Network Pharmacological
Analysis of the Anti-Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Mechanisms of Pterocarpus marsupium
Heartwood
Sharma Hitender and Garg Munish
Res. J. Biotech.; Vol. 20(8); 91-100;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/208rjbt910100; (2025)
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a progressive, multi-pathological and multifactorial
disease. Recently, network pharmacology has emerged as a new approach to explore
natural product actions and interactions with the multiple targets underlying diseases.
Hence, the present study attempted to explore the molecular mechanism of Pterocarpups
marsupium heartwood (PMH) in T2DM using the network pharmacology approach. The bioactive
present in PMH was extracted from Indian medicinal plants, phytochemistry and therapeutics
2.0 (IMPPAT) database. Their protein targets were predicted using the SwissTargetPrediction
web tool. The proteins involved in the pathogenesis of T2DM were retrieved from
the TherapeuticTargetDisease database. Out of twenty-one bioactives of PMH, 17 were
found to modulate 28 potential PMH-T2DM-related targets. Out of the 17 bioactive
compounds in PMH, oleanolic acid, liquiritigenin, 7,4'-dihydroxyflavone, naringetol,
(2S)-7-hydroxyflavanone and pterostilbene showed interaction with five or more target
proteins associated with T2DM.
In the protein-protein interaction (PPI) study, PPARG, PPARA, NR3C1, PPARD, NR1H4,
PTGS2, GPBAR1, PTGS1, NR3C2 and INSR were identified as the top ten targets. 28
potential targets associated with T2DM were linked to 11 signaling pathways. Notably,
lipolysis in adipocytes and the PPAR signaling pathway were identified as having
the lowest false discovery rate among the target proteins. In conclusion, we have
identified 17 bioactive compounds in PMH and 28 potential target proteins that can
affect 11 signaling pathways. This study demonstrated PMH's multicomponent, multitarget
and multi-pathway characteristics used for further research on its mechanism in
the treatment of T2DM.
