scholarly journals The Network Pharmacology Study And Molecular Docking To Investigate The Potential Mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma Against Alzheimer's Disease

Author(s):  
Jiali Pang ◽  
Jiali Pang ◽  
Zhi-Kun Qiu

Abstract Background and objective: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is considered as a progressively developing neurodegenerative disease with an insidious onset that induces increased cost of social burden and decreased quality of life. Acoritataninowii Rhizoma produced the effects of resuscitating and eliminating phlegm, dispelling dampness and appetizing, refreshing mind and nourishing the mind, and exerted the activities of anti-dementia and improving learning and memory. while little was relevant to its anti-AD mechanism. The present study explored the potential mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma defend AD by network pharmacology and molecular docking.Methods: The bioactive ingredients of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma were screened by absorption, distribution, metabolism as well as excretion evaluation and obtained from databases retrieval. Genes associated with AD or ingredients were searching by databases, and the overlapping genes between AD and ingredients were analyzed by the Venn diagram. Moreover, the network of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma-ingredients-targets-AD was visualized by cytoscape software. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction, gene ontology, pathway enrichment and molecular docking were conducted to evaluate potential factors of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma against AD.Results: 4 potential compounds were considered as bioactive ingredients after screening ADME. 81 ingredients-related genes and 6765 AD-related genes were screened by databases with 61 overlapping genes. The bioactive ingredients derived from Acoritataninowii Rhizoma (e.g Cycloartenol, (1R,3aS,4R,6aS)-1,4-bis(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,3,3a,4,6,6a-hexahydrofuro[4,3-c]furan, 8-Isopentenyl-kaempferol, kaempferol) and target proteins (e.g AKT1, JUN, ESR1, CASP3, MAPK14, RELA) with high degree in the network were associated with in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) of DNA-binding transcription factor. Moreover, Acoritataninowii Rhizoma might play a significant in the treatment of AD which induced Fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection, Epstein-Barr virus infection, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications.Conclusion: The bioactive ingredients and potential mechnism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma defended AD was analyzed by network pharmacology and molecular docking. This study provided a research basis and scientific evidence for supporting the activities of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma against AD.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Cen ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
LeiLei Zhang ◽  
XiaoXiao Xue ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is regarded as Pi Dan disease in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Dahuang Huanglian Xiexin Decoction (DHXD), a classical TCM formula, has been used for treating Pi Dan disease in clinic, its pharmacological mechanism has not been elucidated. MethodsThis study used network pharmacological analysis and molecular docking approach to explore the mechanism of DHXD on T2DM. Firstly, the compounds in DHXD were obtained from TCMSP and TCMID databases, the potential targets were determined based on TCMSP and UniProt databases. Next, Genecards, Digenet and UniProt databases were used to identify the targets of T2DM. Then, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established with overlapping genes of T2DM and compounds, and the core targets in the network were identified and analyzed. Then, the David database was used for GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. Finally, the target genes were selected and the molecular docking was completed by Autodock software to observe the binding level of active components with target genes.ResultsA total of 397 related components and 128 overlapping genes were identified. After enrichment analysis, it was found that HIF-1, TNF, IL-17 and other signaling pathways, as well as DNA transcription, gene expression, apoptosis and other cellular biological processes had the strongest correlation with the treatment of T2DM by DHXD, and most of them occurred in the extracellular space, plasma membrane and other places, which were related to enzyme binding and protein binding. In addition, 42 core genes of DHXD, such as VEGFA, TP53 and MAPK1, were considered as potential therapeutic targets, indicating the potential mechanism of DHXD on T2DM. Finally, the results of molecular docking showed that HIF-1 pathway had strong correlation with the target genes INSR and GLUT4, quercetin and berberine had the strongest binding power with them respectively.ConclusionThis study summarized the main components of DHXD in the treatment of T2DM, identified the core genes and pathways, and systematically analyzed the interaction of related targets, trying to lay the foundation for clarifying the potential mechanism of DHXD on T2DM, so as to carry out further research in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Yi Kuan Du ◽  
Yue Xiao ◽  
Shao Min Zhong ◽  
Yi Xing Huang ◽  
Qian Wen Chen ◽  
...  

Alzheimer’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. This study explored the curative effect and possible mechanism of Acori graminei rhizoma on Alzheimer’s disease. In this paper, 8 active components of Acori graminei rhizoma were collected by consulting literature and using the TCMSP database, and 272 targets were screened using the PubChem and Swiss Target Prediction databases. Introduce it into the software of Cytoscape 3.7.2 and establish the graph of “drug-active ingredient-ingredient target.” A total of 276 AD targets were obtained from OMIM, Gene Cards, and DisGeNET databases. Import the intersection targets of drugs and diseases into STRING database for enrichment analysis, and build PPI network in the Cytoscape 3.7.2 software, whose core targets involve APP, AMPK, NOS3, etc. GO analysis and KEGG analysis showed that there were 195 GO items and 30 AD-related pathways, including Alzheimer’s disease pathway, serotonin synapse, estrogen signaling pathway, dopaminergic synapse, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Finally, molecular docking was carried out to verify the binding ability between Acori graminei rhizoma and core genes. Our results predict that Acori graminei rhizoma can treat AD mainly by mediating Alzheimer’s signal pathway, thus reducing the production of Aβ, inhibiting the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, regulating neurotrophic factors, and regulating the activity of kinase to change the function of the receptor.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Zhang ◽  
Jiang-lin Xu ◽  
Ming-qing Wei ◽  
Ting Li ◽  
Jing Shi

Abstract Background and objective: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been a worldwide problem, not only the treatment but also the prevention. As a commonly used Chinese Herbal Formula, Xixin Decoction (XXD) has significant therapeutic effect on AD but without clear mechanism. This study was aimed to predict the main active compounds and targets of XXD in the treatment of AD and to explore the potential mechanism by using network pharmacology and molecular docking. Methods: The compounds of XXD were searched in the TCMSP and the TCMID database, and the active compounds were screened based on the ADME model and SwissADME platform. SwissTargetPrediction platform was used to search for the primary candidate targets of XXD. The common targets related to AD obtained by two databases (GeneCards and DisGeNET) were determined as candidate proteins involved in AD. To acquire the related targets of XXD in the treatment of AD, the target proteins related to AD were intersected with the predicted targets of XXD. Then these overlapping targets were imported into the STRING database to build PPI network including hub targets; Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct the topology analysis for the herb-compound-target network diagram while one of it’s plug-in called CytoNCA was used to calculate degree value to screen the main active compounds of XXD. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were conducted to explore the core mechanism of action and biological pathways associated with the decoction via Metascape platform. We used AutoDock Vina and PyMOL 2.4.0 softwares for molecular docking of hub targets and main compounds.Results: We determined 114 active compounds which meet the conditions of ADME screening, 973 drug targets, and 973 disease targets. However, intersection analysis screened out 208 shared targets. PPI network identified 9 hub targets, including TP53, PIK3CA, MAPK1, MAPK3, STAT3, AKT1, etc. The 10 main active compounds play a major role in treatment of AD by XXD. Hub targets were found to be enriched in 10 KEGG pathways, involving the Pathways in cancer, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, Alzheimer's disease, Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Dopaminergic synapse, Serotonergic synapse and MAPK signaling pathway. The docking results indicated that the 8 hub targets exhibit good binding activity with the 9 main active compounds of XXD.Conclusions: We found the advantages of multi-compounds-multi-targets-multi-pathways regulation to reveal the mechanism of XXD for treating AD based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Our study provided a theorical basis for further clinical application and experimental research of XXD for anti-AD in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1362-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Luo ◽  
Guohua Yu ◽  
Xinjing Chen ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Yating Zhou ◽  
...  

Exploring the potential mechanism of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. for ameliorating Alzheimer's disease using comprehensive UHPLC-LTQ–Orbitrap based phytochemical analysis and network pharmacology approaches.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxuan Zhou

Abstract Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can treat diseases through its “multi-component, multi-target, multi-pathway” mechanisms. Especially have advantages in the treatment of diseases with complicated pathogenesis, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Tonifying the kidney and strengthening the spleen is one of the common methods of Chinese Medicine to treat AD. The TCM combination of Epimrdii Herba and Coicis Semen can be used as the main drugs of a prescription for tonifying the kidney and strengthening the spleen. However, the mechanisms for Epimrdii Herba-Coicis Semen (EH-CS) to treat AD is vague. The purpose of this study was to explore the mechanisms of EH-CS on AD using a network pharmacological method.Methods: We retrieved the chemical compounds and targets of Epimrdii Herba-Coicis Semen from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP). We screened the active ingredients based on the pharmacokinetic parameters (ADME). The Human Gene Database (GeenCards) was used to obtain disease targets of Alzheimer’s disease. Then we drew a venn diagram to obtain common targets of Chinese medicine and disease. Based on the topological properties, we screened the key targets. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the STRING database, and the "Traditional Chinese Medicine-active ingredient-target" network was constructed using Cytoscape software. The key targets were respectively uploaded to the Metascape and DAVID database for GO and KEGG pathway analysis.Results: We obtained 31 active compounds for EH-CS. Flavonoids play important roles in the treatment of AD. A total of 29 key targets, including AKT1, MAPK1, and TP53, etc. The biological processes involve response to lipopolysaccharide, neuron death, neuroinflammatory response, etc. The main pathways include TNF signaling pathways, MAPK signaling pathways, PI3K-Akt signaling pathways and other signaling pathways.Conclusion: The network pharmacology method is an effective tool for exploring the mechanisms of TCM. Based on network pharmacology, this study systematically explained the potential mechanisms of EH-CS on AD. It provides a valuable reference for the development of AD drugs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Yang ◽  
Kan Wang ◽  
Tuo Li ◽  
Mianmian Liao ◽  
Mingwang Kong

Abstract Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest neurodegenerative disease characterized with a progressive loss of cognitive functions and memory decline. Kai Xin San (KXS), a traditional Chinese herbal classic prescription, has been used to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction for thousands of years. However, its specific pharmacological molecular mechanisms have not been fully clarified.Methods: The ingredients of KXS and their corresponding targets were firstly screened from ETCM database. AD-related target proteins were obtained from Malacards database and DisGeNet database. Venn diagram was used to intersect the common targets between KXS and AD. Then, key ingredients and key targets were identified from compound-target-disease network and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis respectively. Moreover, the binding affinity between the key ingredients and targets were verified by molecular docking. KEGG enrichment analysis further predicted the potential key signaling pathway involved in the treatment of KXS on AD, and the predicted signaling pathway was validated via experimental approach.Results: A total of 38 ingredients and 469 corresponding targets were screened, and 264 target proteins associated with AD were obtained. Compound-target-disease network and PPI identified the key active ingredients and targets, which correlate with the treatment of KXS on AD. Molecular docking revealed a good binding affinity between key ingredients and targets. KEGG pathway analysis suggested the potential effect of KXS in treatment of AD via Aβ-GSK3β-Tau pathway. Aβ1-42-injected induced a decline in spatial learning and memory and upregulated the expression of GSK3β and CDK5 along with the downregulated PP1 and PP2 expression. However, KXS significantly improve the cognitive deficits induced by Aβ1-42, decrease the GSK3β and CDK5 levels and increase the expression of PP1 and PP2.Conclusions: Our research elucidated that KXS exerted neuroprotective effects through regulating the Aβ-GSK3β-Tau signaling pathway, which provided a novel insight into the therapeutic mechanism of KXS in treatment of AD.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheyu Zhang ◽  
Hongli Li ◽  
Shan Hui ◽  
Min Yi ◽  
Xin Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Curcumin, a polyphenol derived from the herb turmeric, has emerged as a promising potential therapy in the management of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the efficacy and potential therapeutic mechanisms remains largely unknown. Objective: To systematically meta-analysis the effect and to investigate the potential pharmacological mechanisms of curcumin on cognitive deficits in AD. Methods: A systematic collection of curcumin studies was performed from MEDLINE’s database, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar until October 31th, 2020. Following quality assessment of study eligibility, stratified meta-analysis and meta-regression analyses were undertaken to recognize and control the heterogeneity in meta-analysis. An integrated network pharmacology and molecular docking approach were applied to decipher the potential pharmacological mechanisms of curcumin on AD. Results: A meta-analysis of 29 publications showed that curcumin exerts significantly positive effects on cognitive performance. For acquisition, the global estimated effect of curcumin was -2.027 (95% CI: -2.435 to -1.619, p<0.001); For retention, the global estimated effect of curcumin was 1.606 (95% CI: 1.101 to 2.111, p<0.001). Stratified meta-analysis demonstrated that an increased effect size depended on various study characteristics. Network pharmacology analysis identified 63 genes targets, and STAT3, CHEK1, AKT1, EGFR, MMP9, hsp90AA1, and EP300 were core target proteins. Molecular docking showed that curcumin can closely bind with these seven targets. Besides, 69 potential pathways of curcumin were identified, like nitrogen metabolism.Conclusions: Our findings suggested that curcumin may reduce cognitive deficits in AD through multi-target and multi-pathway mechanism, providing a scientific basis for further experimental and clinical application.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document