OBJECTIVE To screen the main active components and action targets of Jiangzhi Mai'an granule by network pharmacology, and to explore its potential mechanism in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).
METHODS With the help of the parameter setting of lipid-water partition coefficient(ALogP) and drug similarity(DL) in traditional Chinese medicine system pharmacology database and analysis platform(TCMSP), the chemical components of each drug in Jiangzhi Mai'an granule were collected. The target and disease genes of Jiangzhi Mai'an granule in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver were obtained by integrating the target prediction website server(uniprot) with human gene database(Genecard) and human Mendelian genetic database(OMIM). The protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed by using STRING online tool, and the "traditional Chinese medicine-component-disease-target" network was constructed with the help of Cystoscap 3.6.0. In addition, Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used for network topology analysis, MCODE plug-in was used to screen key genes, and STRING database and R3.6.3 software were used for gene ontology(GO) classification and enrichment analysis based on Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) pathway.
RESULTS A total of 283 potentially active components were obtained, including quercetin, apigenin, kaempferol and other key compounds. Through topological analysis, 13 core targets, 6 gene clusters and 4 core gene CASP9, PTGS2, SLC2 A4, OPRD1 were obtained, which are mainly involved in PI3 K/Akt, AGE-RAGE, FOXO, IL-17, HIF-1 signal pathway and so on.
CONCLUSION The analysis of network pharmacology is helpful to reveal the main material basis of Jiangzhi Mai'an granule in the treatment of NAFLD, predict its potential mechanism of multi-level, multi-target and multi-pathway, and provide a scientific basis for expanding clinical application.
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