RÉSUMÉ
Objective:To explore the possible pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of Shaogan Fuzi Decoction in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis through ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS/MS) combined with network pharmacology and molecular docking method.Methods:The blood components of Shaogan Fuzi Decoction were analyzed by UPLC-HRMS/MS; the targets of blood components in Shaogan Fuzi Decoction were predicted by PubChem database and Swiss Target Prediction database; DrugBank database, Therapeutic Target Database (TTD) and GeneCards database were used to screen rheumatoid arthritis-related targets, and Venn map of common targets was obtained; the protein interaction network was constructed by STRING database, and the key targets and key components were screened; GO function enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed by DAVID 6.8 database; the "blood component-target-pathway" network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.2.1 software; Autodock software was used to verify the molecular docking between the predicted key components and key targets in the network.Results:Totally 26 blood components of Shaogan Fuzi Decoction, 526 related targets, 478 related targets of rheumatoid arthritis, and 111 common targets were obtained; the key components such as tangeretin, kaempferol, glycyrrhetinic acid, liquiritigenin, quillaic acid and glabrolide were screened, which acted on key targets such as TNF, IL6, VEGFA, PTGS2, JUN and PPARG. They were mainly involved inflammatory response, steroid metabolic process, response to lipopolysaccharide, extracellular region, cytoplasm, RNA polymerase Ⅱ transcription factor activity, steroid bindingand other biological processes. It mainly regulated steroid hormone biosynthesis, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, apoptosis, IL-17 signaling pathway, rheumatoid arthritisand other signaling pathways. Molecular docking results showed that the key components had good binding activity with key targets.Conclusion:Shaogan Fuzi Decoction may act on TNF, IL6, VEGFA, PTGS2, JUN, PPARG and other targets through tangeretin, kaempferol, glycyrrhetinic acid and other blood components to regulate PI3K-Akt and other signaling pathways, inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis, reducing inflammation, to treat rheumatoid arthritis.