Herb pair Paeoniae Radix Alba-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma: Mechanism analysis by systemic pharmacology approach / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the functional material basis of herb pair Paeoniae Radix Alba-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and analyze their mechanism of action by the systematic pharmacological method based on the platform of traditional Chinese medicine systematic pharmacological analysis (TCMSP) and the big data of traditional Chinese medicine. Methods TCMSP was used to search for the chemical constituents of the two Chinese herbal medicines, “Baishao” and “Gancao”. The molecular descriptors of the components were compared by the two tailed Mann-Whitney U test method, and the oral bioavailability (OB) and drug-likeness (DL) were used as indicators to screen the active components, targets and related diseases of the herb pair. The “component-target-disease” and PPI network models were constructed, and bioprocess and metabolic pathway were analyzed to explore the drug-based material basis and mechanism of action. Results Through the OB and DL parameters screening, 49 active pharmaceutical ingredients, 100 targets and 230 related diseases were obtained. The active ingredients with higher degree were formononetin, naringenin, and vestitol; The higher degree of targets were prostaglandin g/H synthase 2 (PTGS2), estrogen receptor (ESR1), and calmodulin (CALM); The higher-grade related diseases were unspecific cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, unspecified, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, mainly involving 16 categories of diseases such as cancer, nervous system diseases, endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and certain infectious diseases and parasitic diseases. Target proteins are involved in bioprocess including signal transduction, drug response, cell proliferation, RNA polymerase II promoter regulation, positive regulation of ERK1 and ERK2 cascades, regulating metabolic pathways such as PI3K-Akt and 5-hydroxytryptamine synapses. Conclusion This study preliminarily verified the basic pharmacological effects and mechanisms of the Paeoniae Radix Alba-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herb pair, and explored new ideas for the study of the herb pair and related traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.