Abstract
Introduction: Angong Niuhuang pills (ANPs) exhibit a curative effect in patients with stroke, but its main effective components remain unexplored. Here, we aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and active ingredients of ANPs against stroke through network pharmacology, molecular docking, and cellular experiments.
Methods: The compounds and targets of each herb in the ANP were retrieved from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM) databases. The genes corresponding to the targets were retrieved from the GeneCards database. A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulae-compound-disease-target network was constructed using Cytoscape. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed using the STRING database. The core targets of ANP were analyzed using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses using the ClueGO plug-in of Cytoscape. The active ingredients of ANP were docked to the top three core targets. Finally, we explored the effects of coptisine on the oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) models of PC12 cells.
Results: The TCM formulae-compound-disease-target network contained 81 active ingredients and 759 core targets. We identified 47 GO entries of ANP types for stroke, and 55 pathways were screened based on GO and KEGG pathway analyses. Core targets were mainly involved in biological processes (GO enrichment analysis, p < 0.05), including the regulation of heart contraction, muscle contraction, and steroid metabolic processes. In the KEGG pathway, the core targets were mainly involved in AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, neurotrophin signaling pathway, and cGMP-PKG signaling pathway. Molecular docking results showed that norwogonin, coptisine, and musennin had a high affinity for ubiquitin C (UBC), E1A binding protein P300 (EP300), and cellular tumor antigen p53 (TP53), respectively. Coptisine alleviates OGD/R injury by regulating EP300 and LC3B expression.
Conclusion: This study, using network pharmacology, molecular docking analysis, and cellular experiments, provides insights into the potential mechanisms and active ingredients of ANPs in stroke protection. The identification of core target genes and signaling pathways suggests that coptisine could be a promising candidate for treating cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.