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OBJECTIVE: To discuss anti-depression mechanism of baihe zhimu tang using network pharmacology. METHODS: The reported antidepressant active ingredients in baihe zhimu tang were used to predict the targets of main active ingredients of baihe zhimu tang relying on traditional Chinese medicine pharmacology system technology platform(TCMSP)database, reverse molecular docking server(DRAR-CPI) and annotation of the human genome database(GeneCards). The Cytoscape 3.5.1 software was used to construct the baihe zhimu tang active ingredients-targets network. The STRING platform was used to construct protein-protein interaction network, and biological information annotation databases(DAVID)was used to analyze metabolic pathways and biological processes of the targets. RESULTS: There are total 11 active ingredients and 106 anti-depression related targets in the baihe zhimu tang. The 106 targets were mainly involved in regulation of neurotrophin, FoxO, insulin, MAPK, PI3K-Akt, prolactin and proteolysis, signal transduction, protein phosphorylation and RNA regulation relevant biological processes. CONCLUSION: Baihe zhimu tang may play a role in the intervention of depression by acting on the relevant neural, hormonal targets and pathways.
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Objective To explore the effect of Baihe Zhimu Tang(百合知母汤,BZT) on the airway inflammation in bronchial asthma rats.Methods Forty Wistar rats were randomized into control group,asthma model group,BZT group and dexamethasone (DX) group with 10 rats in each group.The bronchial asthma rat model was built by intraperitoneal injection of 10％ ovalbumin (OVA) and ultrasonic atomizing inhalation of 2％ OVA except for the control group.Thirty minutes before every ultrasonic atomizing inhalation,the BZT group was given BZT 3.68 g/(kg · d) by gastric perfusion;the DX group was administered DX injection 1.2 mg/(kg · d) by gastric perfusion;as for the control group and asthma model group,they were given normal saline of the same volume;all groups were intervened for 14 days.After that,HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of lung tissue,the levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) were measured,and the cell cycle and calcineurin (CaN) activity were observed in separated peripheral blood lymphocytes.Results For the asthma model group,there was a lot of inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchial wall under light microscope,the content of IL-4 in the plasma was higher than that in the control group,while the content of IL-2 decreased,the proportion of G0/G1 phase lymphocytes decreased,the proportion of S phase and G2/M increased,and the CaN activity of lymphocytes increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).For the BZT group,there was only a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration in the lung tissue under light microscope,the IL-4 level in the plasma was lower than that in the asthma model group,while the IL-2 content increased,the proportion of G0/G1 phase lymphocytes increased,the proportion of S phase and G2/M decreased significantly,and the CaN activity of lymphocytes decreased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion BZT could reduce lymphocyte proliferation,decrease IL-4 level and reduce airway inflammation by reducing CaN activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes of bronchial asthma rats.
ABSTRACT
A method was established for identifying the chemical components of a traditional Chinese medicinal formula Baihe Zhimu Tang and its single herbs by combining high performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry(HPLC-ESI-MS). The molecular ions of compounds in both negative and positive modes were observed for molecule mass information, and the potential structures were identified by attentive studying on the mass spectra of compounds and comparing with Reference data and some of standards. The results show that in MS detection, saponins in Baihe Zhimu Tang and its single herbs are easily to become positive ions in the electrospray ionization procedure, and they have strong responses, but the mass spectrometric signals of flavonoids and phenolic glucosides are week. 38 compounds in Baihe Zhimu Tang including 3 flavonoids, 4 phenolic glucosides and 31 saponins were identified through analyzing and comparing the total ion chromatograms(TIC) and mass spectra of Baihe Zhimu Tang and its single herbs. This method has the advantages of simple operation, rapid measurement and it is a powerful tool for identification of chemical components in Baihe Zhimu Tang.