Network Pharmacology-based Activity of Abhaya ghrita in Autism Spectrum Disorder – A Computational Study

Abstract Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disorder characterized by impairment in social communication, behavior with pervasive abnormal body posture or movements, and the prevalence of ASD is 62/10,000. In Ayurveda, ASD is classified under Unmada diseases. Various types of Ghrita formulation are described in Ayurveda for the management of Unmada . Abhaya ghrita described in Kashyapa samhita is used for the management of ASD in various studies. Objective: The objective of this study is to establish link for the activity of Abhaya ghrita in ASD using network pharmacology (NP). Materials and Methods: Bioactive present in herbs of Abhaya ghrita were retrieved from various databases including IMPPAT and PubChem. Absorption, digestion, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) study and target prediction of bioactive were assessed with online software tools (SwissADME and SwissTargetPrediction tool). Targets of ASD were retrieved from GeneCards database. The common target of ASD between target retrieved from GeneCards database and target obtained from bioactive was screened. Drug-herb-bioactive–target network was constructed and visualized by software (Cytoscape 3.9.1). Gene Oncology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed on the common targets for activity of Abhaya ghrita in ASD. Results: A total of 299 bioactive were obtained from herbs of Abhaya ghrita , 161 bioactive-qualified ADME study and 177 bioactive-related targets were collected from these ADME-qualified bioactive. After removal of duplicates targets total 82 targets were finalized and out of these, only 22 targets were found common between targets of ASD retrieved from GeneCards. Conclusion: Apigenin and luteolin were the bioactive having maximum targets for ASD, while the main target was shown to be estrogen receptor 2 for activity of Abhaya ghrita in ASD. The KEGG pathway enrichment indicated that the activity of Abhaya ghrita in ASD is primarily connected to the chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, endocrine resistance, and tryptophan metabolism. These observations may open new thoughts for future investigations into the mechanisms behind the activity of Abhaya ghrita in other diseases also.