Study on efficacy network of Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction in treating insomnia / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the mechanisms of effects of Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction in the treatment of insomnia by using network pharmacology methods. Methods: TCMSP and TCMID were used to lock the targets of seven herbs in Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction. TTD, DrugBank, and PubMed were used to search targets of insomnia and construct a “disease-prescription-target” network. STRING and Cytoscape were used to perform enrichment analysis and clarify the mechanism of core targets in the network. Results: The PPI network of Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction contained 640 targets and the PPI network of insomnia included 175 targets. A total of 29 core targets and 80 interactions were found after enrichment analysis between two PPI networks. After GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway analysis of 29 key targets, we found that 171 active ingredients in Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction such as saikosaponin a, saikosaponin d, quercetin, calcium carbonate, 6-gingerol, kaempferol, and wogonin, which played a role in the treatment of insomnia mainly through 29 core targets such as CACNA1C, GABRA1, GABRA2, GABRB3, GABRA3, with biological processes such as target and synaptic signaling, regulation of membrane potential, G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathway, and molecular functions such as neurotransmitter receptor activity, ion-gated channel activity, GABA-A receptor activity, and functional pathways composed by plasmalemma, synapse, and other cells such as neural active ligand-receptor interaction, retrograde endogenous cannabinoid signal transduction, and serotoninergic synapses. Conclusion: The pharmacological substance basis for the treatment of insomnia was composed of 171 active ingredients such as saikosaponin a and saikosaponin d. The efficacy network of “soothing liver and invigorating spleen, regulating yin and yang” was constituted by several pathways like the neural active ligand-receptor interaction and 29 targets such as CACNA1C. Our results provide network pharmacological evidence for clinical rational use of Chaihu Guizhi Ganjiang Decoction for insomnia.