Abstract
The global burden of neurological diseases, the second leading cause of death
after heart dis-eases constitutes one of the major challenges of modern
medicine. Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicinal systemenrooted in the
Vedic literature and considered as a schema for the holistic management of
health, characterizes various neurological diseases disorders (NDDs) and
prescribes several herbs, formulations, and bio-cleansing regimes for their
care and cure. In this work, we examined neuro-phytoregulatory potential of
34,472 phytochemicals among 3,038 herbs (including their varieties) mentioned
in Ayurveda using network pharmacology approach and found that 45% of these
Ayurvedic phytochemicals (APCs) have regulatory associations with 1,643
approved protein targets. Metabolite interconversion enzymes and protein
modifying enzymes were found to be the major target classes of APCs against
NDDs. The study further suggests that the actions of Ayurvedic herbs in
managing NDDs were majorly via regulating signalling processes, like, G-protein
signaling, acetylcholine signaling, chemokine signaling pathway and GnRH
signaling. A high confidence network specific to 219 pharmaceutically relevant
neuro-phytoregulators (NPRs) from 1,197 Ayurvedic herbs against 102 approved
protein-targets involved in NDDs was developed and analyzed for gaining
mechanistic insights. The key protein targets of NPRs to elicit their
neuro-regulatory effect were highlighted as CYP and TRPA, while estradiol and
melatonin were identified as the NPRs with high multi-targeting ability. 32
herbs enriched in NPRs were identified that include some of the well-known
Ayurvedic neurological recommendations, like, Papaver somniferum, Glycyrrhiza
glabra, Citrus aurantium, Cannabis sativa etc. Herbs enriched in NPRs may be
used as a chemical source library for drug-discovery against NDDs from systems
medicine perspectives.
Citation
ID:
281707
Ref Key:
singh2021neuromodulators