Phytoconstituents of Ashwagandha as potential inhibitors of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP): an in silico investigation

Abstract

Amylin or human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) is a small peptide co-secreted with insulin. Its peripheral aggregation on the lipid bilayer leads to fibril formation. The formation of hIAPP fibrils is hypothesized to rupture the membrane of β -cells, which culminates in β-cell death. Following additional studies, amylin fibril formation is a hallmark of T2DM and is also implicitly responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. This study reports the virtual screening of 1000 phytoconstituents of traditional Indian medicinal plants to get potential inhibitors of amylin, which will likely restrict and block amyloid aggregation, preventing the progression of T2DM and Alzheimer’s illness. The compounds having drug-likeness properties (acquired from ADMET calculations) and highest binding affinities (from molecular docking) are subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to investigate the temporal stability of the conformations of the complexes. This study discovers that Withaferin A and Withacoagulin have the highest binding affinity for amylin, and their stability with amylin was verified further by parameters such as RMSD, RMSF, number of H-bonds and MMPBSA. Individual principle component analysis (PCA) confirms the stable complex formation of amylin with Withaferin A and Withacoagulin. We strongly believe that wet-lab experiments and clinical trials will help to validate our computational findings. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma