Molecular Docking Studies of Phytocompounds from the Phyllanthus Species as Potential Chronic Pain Modulators

The study of inflammatory pain has been one of the most rapidly advancing and expanding areas of pain research in recent years. Studies from our lab have demonstrated the chronic pain-modulating potential of the Phyllanthus species and their probable interaction with various inflammatory mediators involving enzymes like COX-2 and PGE synthase, cytokines like TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta, and with the NMDA receptor. Inflammatory mediators which play a crucial role in chronic inflammatory hyperalgesia and its subsequent modulation were selected for their interactions with 86 structurally diverse phytoconstituents identified from the Phyllanthus species. The docking analysis of the target proteins with the phytochemical ligands was performed using VLifeMDS software. The docking scores and analysis of the interactions of the phytocompounds with target proteins suggest that important molecules like lupeol, phyllanthin, hypopyllanthin, corilagin, epicatechin, and most of the other compounds have the ability to bind to multiple targets involved in inflammatory hyperalgesia. Our study strongly suggests that the findings of the present study could be exploited in the future for designing ligands in order to obtain novel molecules for the treatment and management of chronic pain.