J. Pharm. Pharmacogn. Res., vol. 14, no. 2, Article ID 2525, Mar-Apr 2026.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56499/jppres_14.2.2525

Original article

Targeting PCOS-related inflammation with bioactive compounds of Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp. leaves extract: An in silico study

 

[Tratamiento de la inflamación relacionada con el síndrome de ovario poliquístico mediante compuestos bioactivos del extracto de hojas de Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp.: un estudio in silico]

 

Renny Aditya1*, Wirdatun Nafisah2

 

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, Banjarmasin, Indonesia.

2Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Indonesia.

*E-mail: dr.rennyaditya@ulm.ac.id

 

Abstract

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine disorder affecting reproductive-aged women, often associated with chronic inflammation. The search for novel therapeutic agents has led to the exploration of natural compounds with anti-inflammatory properties. Syzygium polyanthum, commonly known as Indonesian bay leaf, is traditionally used in herbal medicine and contains bioactive compounds with potential pharmacological effects.

Aims: To investigate, through in silico approaches, the molecular interactions between selected compounds from S. polyanthum and inflammatory target proteins relevant to polycystic ovary syndrome therapy.

Methods: Molecular docking analysis was performed using AutoDock Vina integrated with PyRx version 0.8. Additionally, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) analysis was conducted to evaluate the pharmacokinetic properties of the selected compounds. The binding affinities of the ligands were evaluated against key inflammatory proteins, namely MMP-9, IL6ST, and HIF-1.

Results: The results suggest that nootkatone exhibits strong binding interactions with inflammatory mediators, indicating its promising potential due to its stable binding affinity in all protein targets (-6.8 kcal/mol in MMP-9; -6.5 kcal/mol in IL6ST; and -7.1 kcal/mol in HIF-1) and favorable pharmacokinetic properties as revealed by ADME analysis, supporting its potential as an anti-inflammatory agents for PCOS management.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that nootkatone may serve as a promising natural anti-inflammatory candidate for the management of polycystic ovary syndrome. Further studies employing molecular dynamics analyses, as well as in vitro and in vivo experiments, are warranted to validate these results.

Keywords: anti-inflammation; HIF-1; IL6ST; MMP-9; PCOS; Syzygium polyanthum.

 
PDF Download
 

Resumen

El síndrome de ovario poliquístico (SOP) es un trastorno endocrino frecuente que afecta a mujeres en edad reproductiva y suele estar asociado a inflamación crónica. La búsqueda de nuevos agentes terapéuticos ha impulsado la exploración de compuestos naturales con propiedades antiinflamatorias. Syzygium polyanthum, comúnmente conocido como laurel indonesio, se utiliza tradicionalmente en la medicina herbal y contiene compuestos bioactivos con potenciales efectos farmacológicos.

Objetivos: Investigar, mediante métodos computacionales, las interacciones moleculares entre compuestos seleccionados de S. polyanthum y proteínas inflamatorias diana relevantes para el tratamiento del síndrome de ovario poliquístico.

Métodos: Se realizó un análisis de acoplamiento molecular utilizando AutoDock Vina integrado con PyRx versión 0.8. Además, se realizó un análisis de absorción, distribución, metabolismo y excreción (ADME) para evaluar las propiedades farmacocinéticas de los compuestos seleccionados. Se evaluaron las afinidades de unión de los ligandos frente a proteínas inflamatorias clave, como MMP-9, IL6ST e HIF-1.

Resultados: Los resultados sugieren que la nootkatona presenta fuertes interacciones de unión con mediadores inflamatorios, lo que indica su prometedor potencial debido a su afinidad de unión estable en todas las proteínas diana (-6,8 kcal/mol en MMP-9; -6,5 kcal/mol en IL6ST; y -7,1 kcal/mol en HIF-1) y sus favorables propiedades farmacocinéticas, según lo revelado por el análisis ADME. Esto respalda su potencial como agente antiinflamatorio en el tratamiento del SOP.

Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos sugieren que la nootkatona podría ser un candidato prometedor de tratamiento antiinflamatorio natural para el síndrome de ovario poliquístico. Se justifican estudios adicionales que empleen análisis de dinámica molecular, así como experimentos in vitro e in vivo, para validar estos resultados.

Palabras Clave: antiinflamación; HIF-1; IL6ST; MMP-9; SOP; Syzygium polyanthum.

 
PDF Download
 
Citation Format: Aditya R, Nafisah W (2026) Targeting PCOS-related inflammation with bioactive compounds of Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp. leaves extract: An in silico study. J Pharm Pharmacogn Res 14(2): 2525. https://doi.org/10.56499/jppres_14.2.2525
 
References

Abd Wahab N, Ja’afar NSA (2021) Phytochemical composition and antibacterial activities of Syzygium polyanthum methanolic leaves extract. Pharmacogn J 13(6): 1355–1358. https://doi.org/10.5530/pj.2021.13.171

Abdulrahman MD (2023) Review of ethnopharmacology, morpho-anatomy, biological evaluation and chemical composition of Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp. Plant Sci Today 9(1): 167–177. https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1386

Aditya R, Santoso B, Widjiati (2023) The effect of Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp. extract on glutathione, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, sPDL1, and DeGraff follicles expression in PCOS rat models. Pharmacogn J 15(5): 791–800. http://dx.doi.org/10.5530/pj.2023.15.154

Borthakur A, D Prabhu Y, Valsala Gopalakrishnan A (2020) Role of IL-6 signalling in polycystic ovarian syndrome associated inflammation. J Reprod Immunol 141: 103155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jri.2020.103155

Cai M, Ni Z, Yuan Z, Yu J, Zhang D, Yao R, Zhou L, Yu C (2023) Past and present: a bibliometric study on polycystic ovary syndrome. J Ovarian Res 16: 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13048-022-01072-3

Chen D, Oezguen N, Urvil P, Ferguson C, Dann SM, Savidge TC (2016) Regulation of protein–ligand binding affinity by hydrogen bond pairing. Sci Adv 2(3): e1501240. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501240

Dallakyan S, Olson AJ (2015) Small-Molecule Library Screening by Docking with PyRx. In: Hempel J, Williams C, Hong C (eds), Chemical Biology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1263. New York, NY: Humana Press, pp. 243–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2269-7_19

Dantas LBR, Silva ALM, da Silva Júnior CP, Alcântara IS, de Oliveira MRC, Bezerra Martins AOBP, Ribeiro-Filho J, Coutinho HDM, Passos FRS, Quintans-Junior LJ, Alencar de Menezes IR, Pezzani R, Vitalini S (2020) Nootkatone inhibits acute and chronic inflammatory responses in mice. Molecules 25(9): 2181. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25092181

Ferenczy GG, Kellermayer M (2022) Contribution of hydrophobic interactions to protein mechanical stability. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 20: 1946–1956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2022.04.025

Freitas RF, Schapira M (2017) A systematic analysis of atomic protein–ligand interactions in the PDB. Med Chem Commun 8: 1970–1981. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7MD00381A

Geng Y, Sui C, Xun Y, Liu Y, Lai Q, Jin L (2019) MiRNA-99a can regulate proliferation and apoptosis of human granulosa cells via targeting IGF-1R in polycystic ovary syndrome. J Assist Reprod Genet 36: 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1335-x

Goodarzi MO, Dumesic DA, Chazenbalk G, Azziz R (2011) Polycystic ovary syndrome: Etiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis. Nat Rev Endocrinol 7(4): 219–231. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2010.217

Hosseinkhani A, Asadi N, Pasalar M, Zarshenas MM (2018) Traditional Persian medicine and management of metabolic dysfunction in polycystic ovary syndrome. J Tradit Complement Med 8(1): 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcme.2017.04.006

Hutchins KM (2018) Functional materials based on molecules with hydrogen-bonding ability: Applications to drug co-crystals and polymer complexes. R Soc Open Sci 5(6): 180564. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180564

Ismail A, Wan Ahmad WAN (2019) Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp: A potential phytomedicine. Pharmacogn J 11(2): 429–438. http://dx.doi.org/10.5530/pj.2019.11.67

Jabbari N, Goli M, Shahi S (2024) Optimization of bioactive compound extraction from saffron petals using ultrasound-assisted acidified ethanol solvent: Adding value to food waste. Foods 13(4): 542. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13040542

Lebinger TG (2007) Metformin and polycystic ovary syndrome. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes 14(2): 132–140. https://doi.org/10.1097/med.0b013e328089f0ea

Lee S, Barron MG (2017) Structure-based understanding of binding affinity and mode of estrogen receptor α agonists and antagonists. PLoS One 12(1): e0169607. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169607

Luo ED, Jiang HM, Chen W, Wang Y, Tang M, Guo WM, Diao HY, Cai NY, Yang X, Bian Y, Xing SS (2022) Advancements in lead therapeutic phytochemicals polycystic ovary syndrome: A review. Front Pharmacol 13: 1065243. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1065243

Medina-Torres N, Ayora-Talavera T, Espinosa‐Andrews H, Sánchez-Contreras Á, Pacheco N (2017) Ultrasound assisted extraction for the recovery of phenolic compounds from vegetable sources. Agronomy 7: 47(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy7030047

Melin JM, Forslund M, Alesi SJ, Piltonen T, Romualdi D, Spritzer PM, Tay CT, Pena AS, Witchel SF, Mousa A, Teede HJ (2024) Effects of different insulin sensitisers in the management of polycystic ovary syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Endocrinol 100(2): 149–163. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.14983

Morris GM, Huey R, Lindstrom W, Sanner MF, Belew RK, Goodsell DS, Olson AJ (2009) AutoDock4 and AutoDockTools4: automated docking with selective receptor flexibility. J Comput Chem 30(16): 2785–2791. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.21256

Naseri A, Sanaie S, Hamzehzadeh S, Seyedi-Sahebari S, Hosseini MS, Gholipour-Khalili E, Rezazadeh-Gavgani E, Majidazar R, Seraji P, Daneshvar S, Rezazadeh-Gavgani E (2023) Metformin: New applications for an old drug. J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol 34(2): 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2022-0252

Nissi R, Talvensaari-Mattila A, Kotila V, Niinimäki M, Järvelä I, Turpeenniemi-Hujanen T (2013) Circulating matrix metalloproteinase MMP-9 and MMP-2/TIMP-2 complex are associated with spontaneous early pregnancy failure. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 11: 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-11-2

Peñaloza E, Holandino C, Scherr C, Araújo P, Borges R, Urech K, Baumgartner S, Garrett R (2020) Comprehensive metabolome analysis of fermented aqueous extracts of Viscum album L. by Liquid Chromatography−High Resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Molecules, 25(17): 4006. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25174006

Ranjbaran J, Farimani M, Tavilani H, Ghorbani M, Karimi J, Poormonsefi F, Khodadadi I (2016) Matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 and MMP9/NGAL complex activity in women with PCOS. Reproduction 151(4): 305–311. https://doi.org/10.1530/rep-15-0340

Rudnicka E, Suchta K, Grymowicz M, Calik-Ksepka A, Smolarczyk K, Duszewska AM, Smolarczyk R, Meczekalski B (2021) Chronic low grade inflammation in pathogenesis of PCOS. Int J Mol Sci 22(7): 3789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22073789

Singh S, Pal N, Shubham S, Sarma DK, Verma V, Marotta F, Kumar M (2023) Polycystic ovary syndrome: Etiology, current management, and future therapeutics. J Clin Med 12(4): 1454. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12041454

Sørensen AE, Udesen PB, Maciag G, Geiger J, Saliani N, Januszewski AS, Jiang G, Ma RC, Hardikar AA, Wissing MLM, Englund ALM, Dalgaard LT (2019) Hyperandrogenism and metabolic syndrome are associated with changes in serum-derived microRNAs in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Front Med (Lausanne) 6: 242. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2019.00242

Sylus AM, Nandeesha H, Chitra T (2020) Matrix metalloproteinase-9 increases and interleukin-10 reduces with increase in body mass index in polycystic ovary syndrome: A cross-sectional study. Int J Reprod Biomed 18(8): 605–610. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijrm.v13i8.7502

Tang Z, Xu R, Zhang Z, Shi C, Zhang Y, Yang H, Lin Q, Liu Y, Lin F, Geng B, Wang Z (2021) HIF-1alpha protects granulosa cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis during follicular development by inducing autophagy. Front Cell Dev Biol 9: 631016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.631016

Trott O, Olson AJ (2010) AutoDock Vina: Improving the speed and accuracy of docking with a new scoring function, efficient optimization and multithreading. J Comput Chem 31(2): 455–461. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.21334

Uddin A, Hossain F, Reza A, Nasrin M, Alam A (2022) Traditional uses, pharmacological activities, and phytochemical constituents of the genus Syzygium: A review. Food Sci Nutr 10(6): 1789–1819. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.2797

Wang F, Han J, Wang X, Liu Y, Zhang Z (2022) Roles of HIF-1alpha/BNIP3 mediated mitophagy in mitochondrial dysfunction of letrozole-induced PCOS rats. J Mol Histol 53(5): 833–842. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-022-10096-4

Wang F, Wang S, Zhang Z, Lin Q, Liu Y, Xiao Y, Xiao K, Wang Z (2017) Defective insulin signaling and the protective effects of dimethyldiguanide during follicular development in the ovaries of polycystic ovary syndrome. Mol Med Rep 16(6): 8164–8170. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2017.7678

Wang F, Zhang Z, Wang Z, Xiao K, Wang Q, Su J, Wang Z (2015) Expression and clinical significance of the HIF-1a/ET-2 signaling pathway during the development and treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome. J Mol Histol 46(2): 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-015-9609-4

Wang J, Wu X (2020) The effects of mitochondrial dysfunction on energy metabolism switch by HIF-1alpha signalling in granulosa cells of polycystic ovary syndrome. Endokrynol Pol 71(2): 134–145. https://doi.org/10.5603/ep.a2020.0002

Wu H, Yu K, Yang Z (2015) Associations between TNF-α and interleukin gene polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Assist Reprod Genet 32(4): 625–634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-015-0449-7

Zhu M, Xu Y, Li C, Liu Y, Wang L, Zhang X (2021) Involvement of impaired CD8(+) mucosal-associated invariant T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells in polycystic ovary syndrome. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 19: 175. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-021-00836-2

© 2026 Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacognosy Research

© 2013-2020 by the authors; licensee JPPRes, Antofagasta, Chile. This journal is an open-access journal distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license-Non Commercial 4.0 international. The content on this site is intended for health professionals. If you are not a health professional, please talk to your doctor about any doubts or concerns regarding your health

Made with ♥ by AVAGAX Studio