Mechanism of essential oil from Schizonepeta tenuifolia in treatment of depression based on network pharmacology and experimental verification / 中国中药杂志

This paper aimed to explore the antidepressant effect of the essential oil from Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq.(EOST) on the treatment of depression and its mechanism by using a combination of network pharmacology and the mouse model of lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced depression. The chemical components in EOST were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer(GC-MS), and 12 active components were selected as the study objects. The targets related to EOST were obtained by Traditional Chinese Medicines Systems Pharmacology(TCMSP) and SwissTargetPrediction database. The targets related to depression were screened out through GeneCards, Therapeutic Target Database(TTD), and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM) database. The Venny 2.1 was applied to screen out the common targets of EOST and depression. The targets were imported into Cytoscape 3.7.2 to generate "drug-active component-diease-target" network diagram. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed using STRING 11.5 database and Cytoscape 3.7.2, and the core targets were screened out. DAVID 6.8 database was used for Gene Ontology(GO) func-tional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, and subsequently the enrichment results were visualized through the bioinformatics platform. The mouse model of depression was induced by intraperitoneally injecting with LPS in mice. Before modeling, mice were administrated orally with EOST. The antidepressant effect of EOST was evalua-ted by tail suspension test(TST), forced swimming test(FST), and novelty suppressed feeding test(NSFT) after modeling. The content of interleukin(IL)-1β was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and the protein expression levels of IL-1β and pro IL-1β in the hippocampus were determined by Western blot. There were 12 main components and 179 targets in EOAT, of which, 116 targets were related to depression, mainly involved in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway, and cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP) signaling pathway. Biological processes such as synaptic signal transduction, G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathway, and chemical synaptic transmission were involved. Molecular functions such as neurotransmitter receptor activity, RNA polymerase Ⅱ transcription factor activity, and heme binding were involved. In mice experiments, the results showed that EOST at 100 mg·kg~(-1) and 50 mg·kg~(-1) significantly shortened the immobility time in TST and FST as well as the feeding latency in NSFT compared with the model group, decreased the levels of serum IL-1β and NO, and reduced the protein expression levels of IL-1β and pro IL-1β in the hippocampus. In conclusion, EOST shows a good antidepressant effect in a multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway manner. The mechanism may be attributed to the fact that EOST can down-regulate the protein expression levels of IL-1β and pro IL-1β, decrease the release of inflammatory factors, and reduce neuroinflammation response.

Anti-inflammatory mechanism of main constituents in essential oil from schizonepeta tenuifolia briq. based on network pharmacology / 中国药理学通报

Aim To explore the main components and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of essential oil from Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq. based on network pharmacology. Methods TCMSP and SwissTargetPrediction were utilized to obtain the corresponding targets of molecules, and the active components were screened. The molecular-target network was constructed. Then, protein-protein interaction analysis, GO analysis, and KEGG pathway analysis were performed. Finally, mo-lecular docking by SystemsDock was combined with previous literature. Results According to the results of network analysis, 13 main components corresponding to 45 targets were screened out. IL6, TNF, ILip, IL10, PTGS2, PTGS1, CHRMi, and CHRNA7 were important inflammatory targets through NF-kB and IL-17 signaling pathway. Biological processes such as response to drug, 7-aminobutyric acid pathway, and molecular functions such as extracellular ligand-gated ion channel activity, GABA-A receptor activity play a role in inflammation related to alcohol consumption, type 2 diabetes, psychiatric disorders, enteropathy, lung diseases, etc. 8,9-dehydrothymol, benzaldehyde, caryo-phyllene, a-humulene, D-germacrene, and pulegone were important anti-inflammatory components, exerting significant effects on CHRNA7, PTGS2 and PTGS1. Conclusion This method initially reveals the effective components and potential targets of essential oil from Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq.