Network Pharmacology study of antiepileptic active agents

Epilepsy is a multifactorial neurological disorder involving complex m
olecular mechanisms,which limits the effectiveness of single target ther
apies.Hydantoin derivatives,including the clinically used antiepileptic d
rug phenytoin,exhibit significant anticonvulsant activity;however,their
comprehensive molecular mechanisms remain insufficiently understood
.In this study,a network pharmacology approach was employed to inves
tigate the multi target and multi pathway actions of hydantoin compoun
ds in epilepsy.Potential targets of hydantoin derivatives were predicted
using public databases, and epilepsy-associated targets were collected
from disease related resources.Overlapping targets were used to constru
ct compound–target and protein protein interaction networks, followed
by topological analysis to identify key hub genes. Gene Ontology and
Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes [KEGG] pathway enrichm
ent analyses were performed to elucidate the underlying biological proc
esses and signallingpathways.The results indicate that hydantoin deriva
tives modulate multiple epilepsy-related targets involved in neuronal
excitability,synaptic transmission,ion channel regulation, and neurotran
smitter signaling pathways.This study highlights the polypharmacologi
cal nature of hydantoins and provides mechanistic insights supporting
their potential as antiepileptic agents.