Elucidating the role of Shatapushpa (Anethum graveolens L.) in Rheumatoid Arthritis through In vitro and In silico Analysis

Introduction

Day by day the prevalence of the diseases are increasing throughout the globe. One such disease that is having increase in incidence is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). With the rise in the occurrence there is need of newer drugs with safety and efficacy. Shatapushpa (Anethum graveolens L.) in Ayurveda is used in majority of the inflammatory conditions in various mode of administrations not only in oral form but also through parenteral route in the form of basti (enema). It is one of the major ingredients in Erandamooladi niruha basti (Enema prepared with decoction based on Ricinus communis L. roots). The pharmacological action of the drug has proven its effect on the disease but the exact mechanism of it is still not clear.

Materials and Methods

On performing macroscopic, physico-chemical, basic phytochemical analysis, Thin Layer Chromoatography, Total flavanoid quantification and network pharmacology the plant phytochemicals and disease targets were obtained from the databases. Followed by that overlapping of drug and disease target was done to find out the common targets. The Protein interaction, pathway analysis and topological analysis was made with overlapping targets. Molecular docking was done with the top 3 phytochemical and 3 targets with highest degree in topological analysis.

Results and Discussion

The basic physicochemical and Phytochemical analysis result revealed that Shatapushpa churna (Anethum graveolens L.) was in the standard API limits. The total flavonoid content result gave a quantification of 4.54±0.47 mg QE/ gram per extract. A total of 200 common targets, 10 pathways and 60 phytochemicals were obtained at last. Scoplotein had shown highest binding affinity towards PIK3CA target of the disease. The phytochemical has docked in the places where the control drug Methotrexate has shown its binding. These, evidence gave us the probable mechanism of Shatapushpa (Anethum graveolens L.) in RA.

Conclusion

Safety and efficacy tests on animals and human subjects are required to validate the results.