Mechanism of saffron in treating atherosclerosis based on network pharmacology method / 中国临床药理学与治疗学

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate the active components and potential mechanism of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in inhibiting atherosclerotic lesion by using network pharmacological method. METHODS: TCMSP database was used to systematically analyze the active components of saffron. At the same time, GeneCards and OMIM databases were used to analyze the genes and proteins according to atherosclerosis mechanism. A follow-up analysis was establishing drug-compound-disease-target network. The potential targets were analyzed for protein interactions, and gene enrichment analysis was carried out by GO and KEGG. Molecular docking was carried out between characteristic ingredients of saffron and its key targets. RESULTS: A total of 5 effective components and 272 genes were screened in saffron used oral bioavailability (OB)>30% and drug likeness (DL)>0.18 as the screening conditions. 26 targets of multiple compounds acting together and 50 targets of a single compound were screened from drug-compound-disease-target network. 19 targets, 99 enrichment results and 116 pathways were screened by protein interactions, GO and KEGG gene enrichment analysis respectively. Molecular docking results showed that all 5 active components could be bind with spontaneously VCAM-1 or eNOS, which are representative proteins of fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis pathway. Isorhamnetin had the lowest binding energy with VCAM-1, and kaempferol had the lowest binding energy with eNOS. CONCLUSION: The results preliminarily verified the main activity components and pharmacology mechanism in saffron and provided a good foundation for further study on the antiatherosclerotic mechanism of saffron.