A network pharmacology approach to decipher the total flavonoid extract of Dracocephalum Moldavica L. in the treatment of cerebral ischemia- reperfusion injury

by Xu Hu, Yideresi Mola, Wen-ling Su, Yue Wang, Rui-fang Zheng, Jian-guo Xing

Background and objective

Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI) is a major injury that seriously endangers human health and is characterized by high mortality and high disability. The total flavonoid extract of Dracocephalum moldavica L.(TFDM) in the treatment of CIRI has been proved by clinical practice. But the mechanism for the treatment of CIRI by TFDM has not been systematically revealed.

Study design and methods

The active compounds contained in TFDM were screened by literature mining and pharmacokinetic parameters, and the targets related to CIRI were collected by searching Drugbank, Genecards and OMIM databases. Cytoscape software was used to construct the protein interaction network of TFDM for the prevention and treatment of CIRI. Geneontology and signal pathway enrichment were analyzed. The key target pathway network of TFDM compounds was constructed and verified by pharmacological experiment in vitro.

Results

21 active components were screened, 158 potential drug targets for the prevention and treatment of CIRI were obtained, 53 main targets were further screened in the protein-protein interaction network, and 106 signal pathways, 76 biological processes, 26 cell components and 50 molecular functions were enriched (P<0.05). Through the compound-target-pathway network, the key compounds that play a role in the prevention and treatment of CIRI, such as acacetin, apigenin and other flavonoids, as well as the corresponding key targets and key signal pathways, such as AKT1, SRC and EGFR were obtained. TFDM significantly decreased LDH, MDA levels and increased the NO activity levels in CIRI. Further studies have shown that TFDM increases the number of SRC proteins, and TFDM also increases p-AKT/ AKT. Molecular docking results showed that acacetin-7-O (- 6’’-acetyl) -glucopyranoside, acacetin7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, apigenin-7-O-β-D-galactoside respectively had good affinity for SRC protein. Acacetin-7-O (- 6’’-acetyl) -glucopyranoside,acacetin-7-O-β-D-glucuronide, acacetin7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside had good affinity for AKT1 protein, respectively.

Conclusion

Our research showed that TFDM had the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target and multi-channel in the treatment of CIRI. The potential mechanism may be associated with the following signaling pathways:1) the signaling pathways of VEGF/SRC, which promote angiogenesis, 2) the signaling pathways of PI3K/AKT, which inhibit apoptosis, and 3) acacetin-7-O (- 6’’-acetyl) -glucopyranoside is expected to be used as a candidate monomer component for natural drugs for further development.