UPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS Combined with Network Pharmacology to Explore the Mechanism of Platycodon Grandiflorum in the Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

OBJECTIVE  Combining UPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS technology with network pharmacology method to predict the target of Platycodon grandiflorum in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the potential mechanism, and carrying out relevant experimental verification, in order to reveal the effective substances and mechanism of Platycodon grandiflorum in the treatment of NAFLD.METHODS  The active components of Platycodon grandiflorum were screened by UPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS and TCMSP database. Swiss Target Prediction Database was used to predict the active components of Platycodon grandiflorum. Targets of NAFLD were obtained through OMIM, Disgenet, TTD and other databases. The disease-related targets were mapped to the potential targets of compounds to obtain the common targets, and the information was imported into Cytoscape software and String online analysis platform to make network diagram and PPI diagram, respectively, and topological analysis was carried out at the same time. Functional enrichment analysis of key target genes GO and KEGG was carried out by using Bioconductor bioinformatics software package based on R software. NAFLD mouse model was established, the results of network pharmacology enrichment analysis were verified by pathological staining and qPCR.RESULTS  Combined with the results of mass spectrometry and database screening, a total of 13 active components, 278 drug targets, 1 536 disease targets and 83 common targets were screened in Platycodon, involving PI3K-AKT, insulin resistance, TNF-α, IL-17, JAK-STAT, T cell receptors and other signaling pathways. Experimental verification showed that the key target genes were differentially expressed.CONCLUSION  This study reveals the active components of Platycodon grandiflorum in the treatment of NAFLD and its mechanism of action, it provides reference value for further research.