ABSTRACT
AIM: The main chemical components of Yufang Fangji II (Hubei Fang) of COVID-19 were studied systematically and combined with network pharmacology to provide a reference for the study of its effective substances. METHODS: Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was applied to identify the absorbed components of the prescription in rat plasma. TCMSP database and Swiss Target Prediction data platform were used to predict the target of the identified blood components, and network visualization software Cytoscape 3.7.2 was used draw the association network diagram, and GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were conducted for the key targets. With the help of CB-Dock online molecular docking platform, the molecular docking of key targets and blood entering compounds was carried out, and the docking combination with good affinity value was displayed by ligplot software to verify the preventive effect of Yufang Fangji II on COVID-19. RESULTS: A total of 52 chemical components identified in the prescription, in which 13 components were absorbed in the rat plasma as the prototype, and they were from Astragalus membranaceus, Atractylodes macrocephala, Saposhnikoviae Radix, Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, and Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, respectively. These compounds were recognized to act on 17 core targets, including mapk3, TNF and other targets related to inflammation, MPO and other targets related to oxidative stress, VEGFR, KDR and other targets related to vascular endothelium. The results of molecular docking showed that the absorbed components had good binding activity with the key targets. CONCLUSION: Compounds in Yufang Fangji II are involved in regulating inflammation, oxidative stress, vascular and cellular physiological activities, which have preventive effects on COVID-19 through regulating IL-17, PI3K Akt, MAPK and other pathways.
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OBJECTIVE： To predict the anti-inflammatory active components and mechanism of couplet medicine of Notopterygium incisum-Angelica pubescens. METHODS： According to the principle of oral bioavailability≥30％ and drug- likeness≥0.18， active components of N. incisum and A. pubescens were screened； TCMSP was used to predict and screen the potential target of them. Using “Anti-inflammatory” as keyword， inflammatory related target genes were retrieved from human gene database Genecards. Common target was screened by mapping the target genes of active ingredients from couplet medicine of N. incisum-A. pubescens. The active ingredient-target network was established by using Cytoscape 3.5.1 software. The screened targets were used to construct the target protein interaction （PPI） network on the STRING V 10.5 platform. Its anti-inflammatory mechanism was studied by KEGG signaling pathway and GO biological enrichment analysis. RESULTS： Totally 15 active components such as coumarin， beta-sitosterol， ammidin， nodakenin were selected from couplet medicine of N. incisum-A. pubescens. Acting on 49 targets such as transcription factor AP-1， PI3-kinase subunit gamma， estrogen receptor， they mainly involved 19 signaling pathways such as hepatitis B and cell apoptosis， and were involved in 47 biological processes such as regulating inflammatory response and prostaglandin biosynthesis. CONCLUSIONS： The anti-inflammatory mechanism of active components of couplet medicine of N. incisum-A. pubescens on multi-target， multi-channel and multi-biological processes is predicted， and it points out the direction for further anti-inflammatory mechanism study.
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Aim To investigate the apoptosis-inducing effects of AgLA2 on lung carcinoma cells SPC-A-1 and its mechanism in vitro.Methods The MTT assay was used to assess the proliferation of SPC-A-1 cells treated with AgLA2 in vitro.Apoptosis-inducing effects was investigated by DNA agarose gel electrophoresis,cell morphology and Elisa.RT-PCR was used to measure the expression of bcl-2 and bax mRNA,and immunocytochemistry was used to measure the expression of bcl-2 and bax protein.Results The IC50 of AgLA2 to SPC-A-1 cells was(3.447?0.436)mg?L-1.Treated with AgLA2,typical nuclear chromatine condensation and fragmentation were observed.The concentration of Caspase-3 in the group treated with AgLA2 was higher than that of the control group.Treated with AgLA2,bcl-2 mRNA,protein expression decreased while bax mRNA,protein expression increased.Conclusions AgLA2 can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of SPC-A-1 cells.Its mechanism of action may be related to changing the ratio of bax/bcl-2 and the set-point of apoptosis,making the apoptosis power hold dominance.