An integrated pharmacokinetic study of Dengzhanxixin injection in rats by combination of multicomponent pharmacokinetics and anti-myocardial ischemic assay

A Network-Pharmacology-Combined Integrated Pharmacokinetic Strategy to Investigate the Mechanism of Potential Liver Injury due to Polygonum multiflorum

Polygonum multiflorum (PM) has been used as a tonic and anti-aging remedy for centuries in Asian countries. However, its application in the clinic has been hindered by its potential to cause liver injury and the lack of investigations into this mechanism. Here, we established a strategy using a network pharmacological technique combined with integrated pharmacokinetics to provide an applicable approach for addressing this issue. A fast and sensitive HPLC-QQQ-MS method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of five effective compounds (trans-2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-d-glucoside, emodin-8-O-β-d-glucoside, physcion-8-O-β-d-glucoside, aloe-emodin and emodin). The method was fully validated in terms of specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, extraction recovery, matrix effects, and stability. The lower limits of quantification were 0.125-0.500 ng/mL. This well-validated method was successfully applied to an integrated pharmacokinetic study of PM extract in rats. The network pharmacological technique was used to evaluate the potential liver injury due to the five absorbed components. Through pathway enrichment analysis, it was found that potential liver injury is primarily associated with PI3K-Akt, MAPK, Rap1, and Ras signaling pathways. In brief, the combined strategy might be valuable in revealing the mechanism of potential liver injury due to PM.

A sensitive ultra-fast liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous determination of ten constituents of Deng-Zhan-Xi-Xin injection in rat plasma and its application to a comparative pharmacokinetic study in sham and middle cerebral artery occlusion rats

Deng-Zhan-Xi-Xin injection is widely used to treat cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in clinical practice. A rapid and selective method based on ultra-fast liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was established and validated to simultaneously quantify chlorogenic acid, 1,3-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, isochlorogenic acid A, neochlorogenic acid, erigeside I, cryptochlorogenic acid, apigenin-7-O-glucuronide, scutellarin, isochlorogenic acid B, and isochlorogenic acid C of Deng-Zhan-Xi-Xin injection in both sham and middle cerebral artery occlusion rats. This was the first quantitative analysis of these ten constituents in both sham and middle cerebral artery occlusion rats. Chromatographic separation of these ten constituents was accomplished on an Acquity HSS T3 column with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water. Mass analysis was performed in negative ion mode with an electrospray ionization source using multiple reaction monitoring technology. The pharmacokinetic study of the ten constituents in sham and middle cerebral artery occlusion rats after intravenous administration of Deng-Zhan-Xi-Xin injection was successfully accomplished by using this validated method. Based on the results of pharmacokinetic parameters, significant differences were observed between the two groups, which might be due to the pathological factors of middle cerebral artery occlusion and pharmacological effects of Deng-Zhan-Xi-Xin injection.

Systems Pharmacology Dissection of Mechanisms of Dengzhan Xixin Injection against Cardiovascular Diseases

Dengzhan Xixin injection (DZXXI), a herbal product prepared from a Chinese herb called Erigeron breviscapus, is a classical and traditional therapeutic for cadiovascular diseases (CVDs), including coronary heart disease (CHD), angina, and stroke, etc. However, its potential pharmacology mechanism against CVDs remains unclear. In this paper, a systems pharmacology-based strategy is presented for predicting drug targets and understanding therapeutic mechanisms of DZXXI against CVDs. The main ingredients were identified by HPLC-diode array detector (DAD). The target fishing was performed on the PharmMapper Server (http://lilab-ecust.cn/pharmmapper/). Potential targets were confirmed by two molecular docking tools, Sybyl-X 1.3 and Ledock to ensure the accuracy. The resulting target proteins were applied as baits to fish their related diseases and pathways from the molecular annotation system (MAS 3.0, http://bioinfo.capitalbio.com/mas3/) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database (http://www.genome.jp/kegg/). Network generation and topological analysis were performed in Cytoscape 3.6.0. 15 main ingredients from DZXXI were identified. Forty five putative drug targets and 50 KEGG pathways, which have highly relevance to the therapeutic effects of DZXXI against CVDs, were then obtained. The systems analysis suggested that DZXXI could attenuate cardiac fibrosis, regulate cardiac contractility, and preserve heart function in adverse cardiac remodeling; meanwhile DZXXI also could have the function of activating blood circulation and dilating blood vessels. DZXXI exerts its therapeutic effects on CVDs possibly through multi-targets including CMA1, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), phenylalanine-4-hydroxylase (PAH), SRC, F7, etc., and multi-pathways including Focal adhesion, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, complement and coagulation cascades, Wnt signaling pathway, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway, Renin-angiotensin system, etc.

An Integrated Pharmacokinetic Study of an Acanthopanax senticosus Extract Preparation by Combination of Virtual Screening, Systems Pharmacology, and Multi-Component Pharmacokinetics in Rats

In this paper, the integrated pharmacokinetics (PK) of an Acanthopanax senticosus extract preparation (ASEP, named as Ciwujia injection in clinic in China) was explored by combining with multi-component PK in rats, virtual screening, systems pharmacology and molecular docking. Firstly, the ingredients in ASEP with high contents and detectable property in rat plasma were selected. Next, the PK study of the resulted ingredients was performed in rats (1.76 ml/kg and 3.52 ml/kg of 5 times concentrated ASEP, single i.v.). Meanwhile, the drug targets for the ingredients screened out were predicted by using a target fishing online server, PharmMapper (http://www.lilab-ecust.cn/pharmmapper/) with a fit filtration threshold of z'-score >0. Next, the network pharmacology, molecular docking, diseases ontology (DO) analysis, and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed respectively for the predicted targets. Finally, the supporting evidences were obtained to characterize the PK markers and carry out the integrated PK study with "plasma-drug concentration sum" or "plasma-drug AUC weighted" methods. As a result, 6 ingredients, involving 5-caffeoylquinic acid (5-CQA), 3-CQA, 4-CQA, protocatechuic acid, eleutheroside B, and gentiopicroside were selected, and their PK profiles were elucidated. The 6 ingredients were highly related to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis and could mainly interact with similar targets, e.g., GSK3B, PDPK1, PLAU, etc., or pathways, e.g., Insulin, VEGF, FoxO, etc, providing the basis for integrating plasma drug concentration. Ultimately, the 6 ingredients were considered as PK markers and the whole in vivo process of ASEP were characterized. Our study would enhance understanding of the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of ASEP against cardiovascular diseases, and provided useful insights for future integrated PK study on anti-cardiovascular diseases TCM injections.