IMPPAT 3.0: An updated FAIR database of phytochemicals and formulations of Indian Medicinal plants

Abstract

Ayurvedic formulations represent a rich source of traditional knowledge, encompassing distinct therapeutic approaches, medicinal ingredients, and underlying principles of drug action. However, systematic integration of this knowledge with standardized modern biomedical terminology and resources remains limited. Here, we present IMPPAT 3.0, an updated version of the Indian Medicinal Plants, Phytochemistry And Therapeutics (IMPPAT: https://cb.imsc.res.in/imppat/) database that extends its scope by incorporating curated and harmonized information on Ayurvedic formulations from authoritative sources, while expanding its coverage of medicinal plants, phytochemicals, and therapeutic use terms. IMPPAT 3.0 further enriches plant and phytochemical information with annotations on clinical trials, patents, bioactivity, protein targets, spectral data, plant image links, and AyuCaRe reports. The compiled data is also organized as IMPPAT-KG, a knowledge graph that enables exploration of relationships among IMPPAT entities. We demonstrate the utility of the resource through a network medicine analysis of single herbal drugs (SHDs) reported for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), revealing significant proximity of their protein targets to RA-associated genes, and pinpointing of phytochemical pairs with potentially complementary effects on RA pathogenesis. In conclusion, by integrating traditional medicinal knowledge, IMPPAT provides a FAIR-compliant ethnopharmacological platform for systematic investigation of Indian medicinal plants and Ayurvedic formulations for drug discovery applications.