Cortex Fraxini (Qingpi) Protects Rat Pheochromocytoma Cells against 6-Hydroxydopamine-Induced Apoptosis

Deciphering the pharmacological mechanisms of Fraxini Cortex for ulcerative colitis treatment based on network pharmacology and in vivo studies

BACKGROUND

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a common type of inflammatory bowel disease. Due to the elusive pathogenesis, safe and effective treatment strategies are still lacking. Fraxini Cortex (FC) has been widely used as a medicinal herb to treat some diseases. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of FC for UC treatment are still unclear.

METHODS

An integrated platform combining network pharmacology and experimental studies was introduced to decipher the mechanism of FC against UC. The active compounds, therapeutic targets, and the molecular mechanism of action were acquired by network pharmacology, and the interaction between the compounds and target proteins were verified by molecular docking. Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model was employed to assess the therapeutic effect of FC on UC, and validate the molecular mechanisms of action predicted by network pharmacology.

RESULTS

A total of 20 bioactive compounds were retrieved, and 115 targets were predicted by using the online databases. Ursolic acid, fraxetin, beta-sitosterol, and esculetin were identified as the main active compounds of FC against UC. PPI network analysis identified 28 FC-UC hub genes that were mainly enriched in the IL-17 signaling pathway, the TNF signaling pathway, and pathways in cancer. Molecular docking confirmed that the active compounds had high binding affinities to the predicted target proteins. GEO dataset analysis showed that these target genes were highly expressed in the UC clinical samples compared with that in the healthy controls. Experimental studies showed that FC alleviated DSS-induced colitis symptoms, reduced inflammatory cytokines release, and suppressed the expression levels of IL1β, COX2, MMP3, IL-17 and RORγt in colon tissues.

CONCLUSION

FC exhibits anti-UC properties through regulating multi-targets and multi-pathways with multi-components. In vivo results demonstrated that FC alleviated DSS-induced colitis.

Network Pharmacology-Based Strategy to Identify the Pharmacological Mechanisms of Pulsatilla Decoction against Crohn's Disease

Purpose: To explore pharmacological mechanisms of Pulsatilla decoction (PD) against Crohn's disease (CD) via network pharmacology analysis followed by experimental validation. Methods: Public databases were searched to identify bioactive compounds and related targets of PD as well as related genes in patients with CD. Analyses using the drug-compound-target-disease network, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed to predict the core targets and pathways of PD against CD. Colon tissue resected from patients with CD and tissue samples from a mouse model of CD fibrosis treated with PD were assessed to verify the major targets of PD in CD predicted by network pharmacologic analysis. Results: A search of the targets of bioactive compounds in PD and targets in CD identified 134 intersection targets. The target HSP90AA1, which was common to the drug-compound-target-disease and PPI networks, was used to simulate molecular docking with the corresponding bioactive compound. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses showed that multiple targets in the antifibrotic pathway were enriched and could be experimentally validated in CD patients and in a mouse model of CD fibrosis. Assays of colon tissues from CD patients showed that intestinal fibrosis was greater in stenoses than in nonstenoses, with upregulation of p-AKT, AKT, p-mTOR, mTOR, p-ERK1/2, ERK1/2, p-PKC, and PKC targets. Treatment of CD fibrosis mice with PD reduced the degree of fibrosis, with downregulation of the p-AKT, AKT, p-mTOR, mTOR, p-ERK1/2, ERK1/2, and PKC targets. Conclusion: Network pharmacology analysis was able to predict bioactive compounds in PD and their potential targets in CD. Several of these targets were validated experimentally, providing insight into the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the biological activities of PD in patients with CD.