Oleocanthal's Interaction with Amino Acids*

There is evidence to suggest that oleocanthal, a
compound found in olive oil, reduces the formation
of Amyloid plaques, a key characteristic of Alzheimer's disease
that is believed to be responsible for the neurological
degeneration inherent to Alzheimer's. By better understanding the
interactions that oleocanthal will have in the body, it may be
possible to further comprehend and potentially prevent
Alzheimer's. We model oleocanthal in
various configurations with other amino acids by translating an
amino acid to and away from oleocanthal and rotating the amino
acid in various ways. The data that has been obtained from doing
this is used to show what configurations of oleocanthal and an
amino acid are energy favorable or unfavorable and, in general,
shows more favorable interactions between oleocanthal and amino
acids with nonpolar R groups than interactions with amino acids
that have polar R groups, which will be a topic of ongoing
research as to why this might be the case.