Exploring the mechanism of Artemisia argyi chemical composition for ulcerative colitis based on network pharmacology

Abstract

A persistent digestive disorder known as ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterized by a high rate of recurrence and a difficult road to full recovery. An herbal treatment with a long history of use in conventional Chinese medicine, Artemisia argyi, has shown encouraging results in preventing the return of clinical UC. We carried out an experiment to isolate and identify the small molecules in Artemisia argyi to investigate the chemical makeup of the therapeutic UC in this plant. Following an activity screen, we discovered that 3β-ethoxytanapartholide (ETP) had significantly greater anti-inflammatory action than the medicine we had chosen as a positive control, dexamethasone, and this is the first report of ETP in terms of biological activity. Systematic network pharmacological analysis confirmed that ETP acted on multiple targets during the pathogenesis of UC. These targets regulate a variety of UC-related signaling pathways, including but not limited to TNF, IL-17, and Ca2+ signaling. Molecular dynamics simulations and MM-PBSA results showed that ETP was able to form stable complexes with five targets, MMP1, MMP9, MUC1, S1PR1 and MMP12. The current work has previously shown the unknown anti-inflammatory ability of ETP and discovered that ETP can modulate various pathways throughout the development of UC to produce therapeutic advantages. These ground-breaking results highlight the urgent need for more analysis and development of ETP as a potential treatment plan for UC.

Keywords

• Artemisia argyi
• Natural products
• 3β-ethoxytanapartholide
• Network pharmacology