NETWORK PHARMACOLOGY IN AYURVEDA: A SYSTEMS BIOLOGY APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE MULTI-TARGET ACTIONS OF HERBAL DRUGS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/prl.ijayush.v15i06%20(June).2107Keywords:
Network Pharmacology, Systems Biology, Polyherbal Formulations, Rasayana, Precision AyurvedaAbstract
Ayurveda utilizes medicinal plants and polyherbal formulations for maintaining health and treating diseases through a holistic approach. Conventional pharmacology follows the “one drug–one target–one disease” paradigm, which often fails to explain the broad-spectrum actions of herbal medicines containing multiple bioactive constituents. Network pharmacology has emerged as a revolutionary discipline integrating systems biology, bioinformatics, pharmacology, and computational sciences to understand multi-component and multi-target therapeutic mechanisms. This approach is particularly relevant to Ayurveda, where therapeutic efficacy is attributed to synergistic interactions among phytoconstituents acting on various biological pathways simultaneously. Network pharmacology enables the identification of active compounds, molecular targets, signaling pathways, and disease networks associated with Ayurvedic drugs and formulations. Studies on Ashwagandha, Guduchi, Haridra, Guggulu, Triphala, and Chyawanprasha demonstrate that these medicines regulate inflammatory, metabolic, neuroendocrine, immune, and oxidative stress pathways through coordinated network interactions. Furthermore, integration with omics technologies, artificial intelligence, and Ayurgenomics offers new opportunities for precision Ayurveda and evidence-based herbal medicine research. This review discusses the principles, methodology, applications, correlation with Ayurvedic concepts, and future prospects of network pharmacology in understanding the mechanisms of Ayurvedic herbal drugs.References
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