Network Pharmacology and Molecular Simulation Reveal Potential Targets and Pathways of Vine Tea in Feline Intestinal Inflammation

Abstract

Simple Summary Feline intestinal inflammation is a common and difficult-to-manage disorder that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and repeated relapse. Vine tea, produced from Ampelopsis grossedentata, contains multiple flavonoids and other natural compounds reported to have anti-inflammatory activity in non-feline experimental systems. In this entirely in silico study, network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation were combined to computationally explore molecular associations between vine tea constituents and feline intestinal inflammation. No feline cells, tissues, animals, or clinical samples were used. Seventeen candidate compounds and 102 shared candidate targets were identified. IL6, TNF, IL1B, STAT3, CASP3, and TLR4 were highlighted as central targets, while the main enriched pathways involved inflammatory signaling, innate immunity, Th17-cell responses, and intestinal epithelial survival. Molecular docking predicted favorable interactions between several candidate compounds and the core targets, particularly IL6, and the IL6-cianidanol complex showed relative stability during a 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation. Overall, these computational results define a multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway hypothesis for future feline-specific testing rather than evidence of therapeutic efficacy. Experimental validation and feline pharmacokinetic and safety studies are required before vine tea can be considered for veterinary application.