Anti-myocardial Ischaemia by Bioinformatics of Apocynum venetum L.

Abstract

Background: In recent years, the number of patients with myocardial ischaemia is rising year by year in China. Objectives: he study uses network pharmacology to predict targets and pathways of action of Apocynum venetum L. (AVL) for the treatment of myocardial ischemia (MI). Materials and methods: The essential active compounds of AVL were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform. The objective of selecting the target genes was achieved through the utilization of GeneCards and Swiss Target Prediction resources. The pool of MI-related targets was obtained from DisGeNET, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and the Therapeutic Target Database. The protein-protein interaction network was meticulously constructed using the STRING algorithm. The gene ontology (GO) analysis of AVL-MI targets was performed at Metascape. In addition, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was conducted. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis was conducted to study the interactions of AVL components with estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90A), protein kinase B (Akt1), tyrosine kinase Src (SRC) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Finally, cellular experiments were performed to validate the mechanism of action of AVL. Results: The molecular target analysis revealed that AVL has the potential to interact with a total of 147 biomolecules. This comprises ESR1, HSP90A, epidermal growth factor receptor, protein kinase B alpha (Akt1), SRC and PI3K. As indicated by GO and KEGG analyses, AVL’s inhibitory potential against MI may be due to its action on the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway. Furthermore, docking studies conducted to assess the interactions between AVL components and their targets (ESR1, HSP90A, Akt1, SRC and PI3K) confirmed that they have robust binding affinities. Cell experiments also showed that AVL treatment significantly reduced oxidative stress indexes ( p < .05). Additionally, the expression levels of Akt1 and PI3K proteins were significantly higher in the AVL group compared to the MI group ( p < .05). Conclusion: AVL therapy exhibits the potential to alleviate the symptoms of MI by mitigating oxidative stress and by orchestrating the expression of proteins such as PI3K and Akt1.