In Silico and In Vivo Evaluation of Anti‐Arthritic Effects of Bakuchiol from Psoralea corylifolia Seeds in Experimental Rat Model

In the present investigation, we studied the anti‐arthritic effects of bakuchiol via in silico and in vivo experiments. Molecular Docking studies carried out on COX‐1 (PDB ID: 3N8Z), COX‐2 (PDB ID: 4PH9) and TNF‐α (PDB ID: 7JRA), proteins involved in inflammation in arthritis. Bakuchiol showed the maximum binding affinity for TNF‐α with binding affinity score is ‐7.29 kcal/mol. In vivo antiarthritic effects were studied in arthritic female wistar rats model prepared by intradermal injection of freund’s complete adjuvant. Our treatment showed that bakuchiol at 20 and 40 mg/kg exhibited significant anti‐inflammatory effects(p< 0.001) showed by significant decrease in paw volume, paw diameter, spleen and thymus weight and increase in pain threshold and body weight in arthritic rat model. A significant decrease in hematological parameters such as total leukocyte count (TLC), platelet count, CRP and rheumatoid arthritis factor (RF)and increase in red blood cells count, ESR and hemoglobin further demonstrated that bakuchiol treatment suppresses the progression of adjuvant induced arthritis (AIA) in arthritic rat model. Histological analysis further revealed that bakuchiol ameliorates the pathological manifestations of AIA . In silico and in vivo results revealed that bakuchiol has the potential to be developed as potent antiarthritic agent.