Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Mar 2020)
Validation of the Key Active Ingredients and Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Effects of Shenjin Huoxue Mixture Against Osteoarthritis by Integrating Network Pharmacology Approach and Thin-Layer Chromatography Analysis
Abstract
Mei-Xiang Yu,1,* Xiao-Qin Ma,1,* Xin Song,2 Yong-Mei Huang,3 Hui-Ting Jiang,1 Jing Wang,1 Wan-Hua Yang1,4 1Department of Pharmacy, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, People’s Republic of China; 2South Campus, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201100, People’s Republic of China; 3Jinshan Hospital, Shanghai Fudan University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201508, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pharmacy, Ruijin Hospital North Affiliated to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School, Shanghai 201801, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Wan-Hua Yang Email [email protected]: Shenjin Huoxue Mixture (SHM), a classic traditional herb mixture has shown significant clinical efficacy against osteoarthritis (OA). Our previous experimental study has confirmed its anti–inflammatory and analgesic effect on acute soft tissue injury in rats, with the compound of glycyrrhizinate in SHM identified and the content of paeoniflorin in SHM determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, the components and its pharmacological mechanisms of SHM against OA have not been systematically elucidated yet. Thus this study aimed to predict the key active ingredients and potential pharmacological mechanisms of SHM in the treatment of OA by network pharmacology approach and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) validation.Methods: The active ingredients of SHM and their targets, as well as OA-related targets, were identified from databases. The key active ingredients were defined and ranked by the number of articles retrieved in PubMed using the keyword “(the active ingredients [Title/Abstract]) AND Osteoarthritis[Title/Abstract] ”, and validated partially by TLC. The pharmacological mechanisms of SHM against OA were displayed by GO term and Reactome pathway enrichment analysis with Discovery Studio 3.0 software docking to testing the reliability.Results: Finally, 16 key active ingredients were identified and ranked, including quercetin validated through TLC. Inflammatory response, IL-6 signaling pathway and toll-like receptor (TLR) cascades pathway were predicted as the main pharmacological mechanisms of SHM against OA. Especially, 12 out of 16 key active ingredients, including validated quercetin, were well docked to IL-6 proteins.Conclusion: Our results confirmed the anti–inflammatory and analgesic effect of SHM against OA through multiple components, multiple targets and multiple pathways, which revealed the theoretical basis of SHM against OA and may provide a new drug option for treating OA.Keywords: Shenjin Huoxue Mixture, osteoarthritis, active ingredients, pharmacological mechanisms, network pharmacology, thin-layer chromatography
