ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism of Dendrobium huoshanense in the treatment of gastric ulcer （GU） based on network pharmacology and in vivo experiment. MethodThe active components of D. huoshanense were searched from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform （TCMSP） and literature， and the targets of the components were screened from TCMSP and SwissTargetPrediction. GU-related genes were retrieved from GeneCards， Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man （OMIM）， and DisGeNET. Thereby， the common targets of the disease and the medicinal were yielded and the protein-protein interaction （PPI） network was constructed， followed by Gene Ontology （GO） term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） pathway enrichment. According to the predicted results， hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining， immunohistochemistry， enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）， Western blot， and real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） were used to validate the effects of D. huoshanense on acetic acid-induced GU in rats. ResultA total of 63 active components of D. huoshanense and 37 target genes of D. huoshanense for the treatment of GU were screened out. PPI network analysis yielded several possible core anti-GU targets of D. huoshanense. They influenced the development of GU by acting on signaling pathways such as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt）， hypoxia inducible factor-1 （HIF-1）， tumor necrosis factor （TNF）， and nuclear factor-κB （NF-κB）， and various biological processes. The in vivo experiment showed that D. huoshanense significantly reduced the levels of inflammatory factors such as interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， and TNF-α in the serum of model rats （P<0.05， P<0.01）， increased gastric blood flow （GBF） at the ulcer margin， raised the expression of epidermal growth factor （EGF） and epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR） at the ulcer margin （P<0.01）， significantly down-regulated protein and mRNA expression of PI3K and Akt， and up-regulated protein and mRNA expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten （PTEN） in the gastric tissues of GU rats （P<0.01）. ConclusionThrough regulating EGFR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway， D. huoshanense can inhibit tissue inflammation， increase gastric microcirculatory blood flow at the ulcer margin， and promote cell proliferation and repair of damaged gastric mucosa.