@conference {48195, title = {Skin mimicking solid optical tissue phantom fulfillment and its characterization}, booktitle = {Photonics in Dermatology and Plastic Surgery 2022}, year = {2022}, publisher = {SPIE}, organization = {SPIE}, address = {1000 20TH ST, PO BOX 10, BELLINGHAM, WA 98227-0010 USA}, abstract = {

Skin mimicking optical tissue phantoms are widely used in diagnostics systems for characterization, optimization, routine calibration and validation. In general, solid phantoms are more preferred in comparison to liquid phantoms. Therefore, our aim is to prepare and characterize the solid tissue phantoms having skin equivalent optical properties. In this work, we have used epoxy resin and hardener as a base material and titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and ink as a scatterer and absorber media, respectively. The total transmission (Tt), collimated transmission (Tc), and diffuse reflectance (Rd) spectra of the developed phantoms were measured with an integrating sphere installed in UV-VIS spectrometer within the wavelength range 400-700 nm. To characterize the optical properties such as absorption (mu(a)), reduced scattering (mu(s){\textquoteright}), and anisotropy factor (g) of the developed tissue phantoms, the numerical model based on Inverse Adding Doubling (IAD) has been used. With various concentrations of absorber and scatterer, a calibration curve was prepared. The calculated experimental optical properties from IAD matched with the predicted intrinsic optical properties of the skin. Thus, the preliminary results suggest that the recipe used in this study may be used as an alternative approach to developing skin mimicking solid optical phantom for diagnostics system applications.

}, keywords = {Absorption, anisotropy factor, scattering, skin mimicking, solid tissue phantom}, isbn = {978-1-5106-4740-4; 978-1-5106-4739-8}, doi = {10.1117/12.2609577}, author = {Kumar, Ajay and Hinge, Sarika and Dixit, Hemant and Kanawade, Rajesh and Kulkarni, Gauri}, editor = {Choi, B and Zeng, H} } @article {48826, title = {Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies of silicon incorporated diarylpyrroles as MmpL3 inhibitors: an effective strategy towards development of potent anti-tubercular agents}, journal = {European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry}, volume = {259}, year = {2023}, month = {NOV }, pages = {115633}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

Growing global demand for new molecules to treat tuberculosis has created an urgent need to develop novel strategies to combat the menace. BM212 related compounds were found to be potent anti-TB agents and they inhibit mycolic acid transporter, MmpL3, a known potent drug target from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In order to enhance their inhibitory potency, several silicon analogues of diarylpyrroles related to BM212 were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for anti-tubercular activities. In Alamar blue assay, most of the silicon-incorporated compounds were found to be more potent than the parent compound (BM212), against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MIC = 1.7 \& mu;M, H37Rv). Docking results from the crystal structure of MmpL3 and silicon analogues as pharmacophore model also strongly correlate with the biological assays and suggest that the incorporation of silicon in the inhibitor scaffold could enhance their potency by stabilizing the hydrophobic residues at the binding pocket. The best docking hit, compound 12 showed an MIC of 0.1 \& mu;M against H37Rv with an acceptable in vitro ADME profile and excellent selectivity index. Overall, the present study indicates that, the designed silicon analogues, especially compound 12 could be a good inhibitor for an intrinsically flexible drug-binding pocket of MmpL3 and has potential for further development as anti-tubercular agents.

}, keywords = {antibiotic, BM212, docking studies, MmpL3 inhibitor, Silicon analogue, tuberculosis}, issn = {0223-5234}, doi = {10.1016/j.ejmech.2023.115633}, author = {Vasudevan, N. and Motiwala, Zenia and Ramesh, Remya and Wagh, Sachin B. and Shingare, Rahul D. and Katte, Revansiddha and Anand, Amitesh and Choudhary, Sushil and Kumar, Ajay and Gokhale, Rajesh S. and Kulkarni, Kiran A. and Reddy, D. Srinivasa} } @article {49727, title = {Silicon incorporated tacrine: design, synthesis, and evaluation of biological and pharmacokinetic parameters}, journal = {RSC Medicinal Chemistry}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, month = {JUN}, pages = {2603-2614}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

Tacrine, an orally bioavailable cholinesterase inhibitor, was previously used to treat Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease but was withdrawn due to hepatotoxicity. The unique structural features of tacrine have once again captured the interest of medicinal chemists. However, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability hampered the development of the majority of its new analogs. Herein, we employed a silicon switch approach for improving the BBB permeability of CNS drugs with tacrine as a tool compound. The replacement of C2 methylene of tacrine with dimethyl silicon yielded {\textquoteleft}sila-tacrine{\textquoteright} that inhibits acetylcholinesterase as well as butyrylcholinesterase with IC50 values of 3.18 and 6.09 mu M, respectively. Sila-tacrine competitively inhibits acetylcholinesterase while it is a non-competitive inhibitor of butyrylcholinesterase. The molecular docking results corroborated with the in vitro cholinesterase inhibition activity of tacrine vs. sila-tacrine. Sila-tacrine demonstrated metabolic stability in HLM and MLM and exhibited superior plasma exposure in an oral pharmacokinetic study in Swiss albino mice. However, tissue distribution studies revealed lower-than-expected brain levels due to efflux pump-mediated transport. This study offers a proof-of-concept for the silicon switch approach in improving the BBB permeability of CNS-active compounds.

}, doi = {10.1039/d5md00019j}, author = {Kulkarni, Akshay S. and Ramana, Sreenivasa Rao and Nuthakki, Vijay K. and Bhatt, Shipra and Jamwal, Ashiya and Nandawadekar, Laxman D. and Jotshi, Anshika and Kumar, Ajay and Nandi, Utpal and Bharate, Sandip B. and Reddy, D. Srinivasa} }