Evaluating the anticoagulant effect of medicinal plants in vitro by cheminformatics methods

IntroductionThis study was designed to evaluate the anticoagulant effect of some medicinal plants using cheminformatics methods.Material and methodsDatabases such as PubMed and Google Scholar were searched to collect information regarding anticoagulant compounds and plants showing this bioactivity. According to the identified anticoagulant compounds, cheminformatics methods were set to find all similar compounds by using the PubChem Structure Search engine. Then, with the help of the identified similar compounds, 15 medicinal plants native to Iran containing at least one of the similar compounds were prepared and extracted in ethanol and the sample extracts were dissolved in DMSO. Three concentrations 1, 10 and 100 μg/ml of extracts were prepared to investigate their anticoagulant effect. Finally, the anticoagulant effect of the selected medicinal plants was evaluated by in vitro PT and APTT assays.ResultsThe extracts of 5 plants, including Ocimum basilicum, Rosa persica, Trigonella foenum, Solanum nigrum and Cubeba officinalis at a concentration of 100 μg/ml showed a significant anticoagulant effect on APTT test in comparison with the negative control.ConclusionIn this study, the anticoagulant effect was identified as a significant property of five medicinal plants. These plants can be regarded as likely candidates for prevention and treatment of complications in individuals with high risk of stroke or ischemia. Also, we suggest that these plants should be cautiously consumed with anticoagulant drugs (e.g. heparin) due to a risk of hemorrhage and increase in the effect of anticoagulant drugs.