Preliminary study on the material basis for expectorant and cough relief effects of the fruits of Phellodendron chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To explore the material basis and mechanism of expectorant and cough relief effects of the fruits of Phellodendron chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid. METHODS The expectorant and cough relief effects of volatile oil and water decoction of the fruits of P. chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid. were studied by ammonia water cough induction and drug expectorant model mice experiments； GC-MS and UPLC-MS technologies were used to identify its volatile oils and non-volatile components of the fruits of P. chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid. The active ingredients， core targets and pathways of expectoration and cough relief were analyzed by network pharmacology. RESULTS The volatile oil （0.8， 0.2 g/kg， calculated by volatile oil） and water decoction （12， 3 g/kg， calculated by crude drug） of the fruits of P. chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid. both had obvious expectorant and cough relief effects， and showed obvious dose-dependent relationship. A total of 38 volatile oil components were identified from the medicinal herbs， and the relative percentage contents of 8 components were greater than 1%， such as α -pinene， myrcene， β -caryophyllene， germanene D， isospathulenol； a total of 69 non-volatile oil components were identified， mainly including phenolic compounds， alkaloids， and flavonoids. The active ingredients screened from the identified components included 13 compounds such as α-pinene， myrcene， chlorogenic acid， luteolin， berberine. There were a total of 55 intersection targets with diseases， and the core targets were tumor necrosis factor （TNF）， epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR）， vascular endothelial growth factor A （VEGFA）， serine/threonine kinase proteins （AKT1） and Toll-like receptor 4 （TLR4）. The molecular docking results showed that the active ingredients and the core targets had good binding ability. GO functional analysis found that the targets were significantly enriched in biological processes such as the reaction affecting lipopolysaccharides， the positive regulation of peptidyl serine phosphorylation， and the positive regulation of the biosynthesis process of nitric oxide. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis found that the targets were significantly enriched in the signaling pathways such as cancer， non-small cell lung cancer， proteoglycans in cancer. CONCLUSIONS Fruits of P. chinense var. glabriusulum Schneid. have obvious expectorant and cough relief effects， and its material basis may be α-pinene， myrcene， chlorogenic acid， luteolin， berberine， etc.， and mainly act on TNF， EGFR， VEGFA， AKT1， TLR4 and its significantly enriched signaling pathway.