Mechanism of Yangxinshi Intervention on Cardiac Fibrosis in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy Based on Network Pharmacology

Online preconcentration and determination of five alkaloids in Yangxinshi tablet by large-volume sample stacking and micelle to solvent stacking in cyclodextrin-modified electrokinetic chromatography

The two-step preconcentration technique consisting of large-volume sample stacking (LVSS) and micelle to solvent stacking (MSS) in cyclodextrin-modified electrokinetic chromatography (CDEKC) was developed for the analysis of five cationic alkaloids in complex Chinese herbal prescriptions. Relevant parameters affecting separation and stacking performance were optimized separately. Under the optimal LVSS-MSS-CDEKC conditions, less analysis time and organic solvent were required, and the enhancement factors of analytes ranged from 12 to 15 compared with the normal CDEKC separation mode. Further, all validation results demonstrated good applicability and multiple alkaloids (epiberberine, dehydrocorydaline, jatrorrhizine, coptisine and berberine) in Yangxinshi tablet (YXST) have been simultaneously determined. This approach presents powerful potential for the determination of multiple components in complex preparations of Chinese medicine.

Network pharmacology integrated with molecular docking technology to reveal the potential mechanism of Shuganfang against drug-induced liver injury

This study aimed to investigate the active composition and mechanism of the Shuganfang (SGF) in treating drug-induced liver injury (DILI) using network pharmacology and molecular docking. The potential active ingredients and targets of SGF were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP) database. DILI-related targets were queried from various databases including GEO, GeneCards, OMIM, NCBI, and DisGeNET. The STRING database was used to establish a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. DAVID was utilized for conducting gene ontology (GO) function enrichment and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. The data visualization and analysis of herb-ingredient-target and disease-pathway-target-ingredient networks were conducted using Cytoscape software (version 3.7.2). PyMoL and AutoDock software was used to select the best binding target for molecular docking. A total of 177 active ingredients,126 targets and 10112 disease targets were obtained, including 122 intersection targets. The identified potential active ingredients consisted of quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, tanshinone IIa, nobiletin, isorhamnetin, beta-sitosterol and naringenin. The core targets implicated in the study were IL6, estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), hypoxia-inducible factor alpha subunit 1 (HIF1A), MYC and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA). KEGG analysis revealed that the treatment of DILI with SGF mainly acted through apoptosis, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway. Furthermore, the binding affinities between the potential ingredients and the core targets were subsequently confirmed through molecular docking experiments. The findings indicated that the docking outcomes remained consistent and demonstrated a favorable capacity for binding. SGF exerts a therapeutic effect on DILI through multiple active ingredients, multiple targets and multiple pathways. Our findings contribute to a positive investigation and establish a theoretical basis for further extensive exploration of SGF as a potential treatment for DILI in future research.