OBJECTIVE To explore the protective mechanism of safflower on mouse hearts preserved at low temperatures, summarize and analyze the potential targets of safflower, and provide reference for the improvement of ex vivo myocardial injury by traditional Chinese medicine safflower.

METHODS Databases such as TCMSP, TCMID, and Swiss Target Prediction were used to search for the chemical composition and target of safflower. Databases such as OMIM, TTD, and Genecards were employed to screen disease targets for ischemic cardiomyopathy. A network diagram of "drug-ingredient-target-disease" was construct using Cytoscape, and the mechanism of the action of safflower was enriched and analyzed. A mouse ex vivo heart cold preservation model was constructed and the predicted targets of network pharmacology were validated using techniques such as ELISA detection, qPCR, Western blot, etc.

RESULTS A total of 22 active ingredients and 421 drug targets were obtained from safflower; 1 812 disease targets were identified in ischemic cardiomyopathy, resulting in 117 drug-disease common targets. GO enrichment analysis yielded 1 906 entries, and KEGG pathway enrichment screening identified a total of 137 signaling pathways, including the Akt signaling pathway. Experimental verification showed that safflower might alleviate the damage to mouse hearts during low-temperature storage by regulating the PI3K-Akt pathway to regulate cell apoptosis.

CONCLUSION This article uses network pharmacology to reveal the protective targets and pathways of safflower on the heart of mice subjected to low-temperature cold storage, and conducts relevant experimental verification. This provides a basis for further exploring the mechanism of safflower in reducing myocardial injury in low-temperature cold stored hearts, and provides a theoretical basis for the clinical application and pharmacological research of safflower.