Network Pharmacology Study of Anti-Depression Mechanism of Baihe Zhimu Tang / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

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.