Molecular docking analysis of aldose reductase with herbal compounds from selected siddha medicine for anti-cataract treatment

Cataracts are a major cause of blindness and it is due to protein aggregation in the eye lens that is accelerated by aldose reductase (AR)-induced sorbitol accumulation. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the anti-cataract potential of six phytochemicals from Siddha medicinal herbs (carinol, voacangine, berberine, piperine, sesamin and isoamericanin A) using molecular docking analysis with human aldose reductase (PDB ID: 4GCA) where epalrestat is used as the standard compound. Analysis shows that berberine, piperine, sesamin and carinol have optimal binding interactions with aldose reductase, performing similar to the standard drug epalrestat having estimated free energy values of -10.37 kcal/mol and -10.13 kcal/mol, respectively for further consideration. Thus, the traditional use of these herbs in Siddha medicine as a potential, affordable and non-surgical cataract-preventative agent is shown.