Exploring the potential pharmacodynamic material basis and pharmacologic mechanism of the Fufang-Xialian-Capsule in chronic atrophic gastritis by network pharmacology approach based on the components absorbed into the blood.

In this study, a new network pharmacology approach based on the components absorbed into the blood was used to investigate the pharmacodynamic material basis and the pharmacologic mechanism of the Fufang-Xialian-Capsule (FXL) in treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). Initially, we confirmed the components absorbed into the blood by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Then, the network approach, which was based on the results of components absorbed into the blood, was used to analyse the pharmacodynamic material basis and the pharmacologic mechanism of FXL on treating CAG. As a result, 22 absorbed components were found in rat plasma. Given the results of the absorption analysis of the components, eight pathways associated with CAG development were found. The targets linked to these pathways are the drug targets of FXL in CAG treatment. The components associated with these targets are the potential pharmacodynamic material basis and exert synergy in regulating pathways during CAG treatment.

A target-group-change strategy based on the UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE method for the metabolites identification of Fufang-Xialian-Capsule in rat's plasma.

Fufang-Xialian-Capsule (FXL) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula which was utilized to treat chronic atrophic gastritis. Despite the chemical constituents have been clarifying by our previous studies, but the metabolism of FXL after oral was still unclear. In order to clarify the mechanism of these absorbed components, a target-group-change (TGC) strategy was utilized to analysis the collected data. This strategy include five steps: (1) acquired the mass spectra data and tandem mass spectra data simultaneously; (2) confirmed the prototype absorbed into blood and the tandem mass behavior of prototype; (3) clarified the potential group change of prototypes after metabolism by Metabolynx XS software; (4) confirmed the target group change acquired by compare the tandem mass behavior of metabolites with their prototypes; (5) inferred the position of group change occurred and metabolic pathways of each prototypes. Based on the TGC strategy, the structure of metabolites and the metabolic pathways of FXL were confirmed. The main group change behaviors on the prototypes after metabolism include demethylation, methylation, hydroxylation and glucuronide conjugation. As the results, there were 33 metabolites transformed from 11 prototypes confirmed, these 11 prototypes include 4 flavones, 5 alkaloids and 2 ginsenosides. All the metabolites could be identified or tentatively characterized according to the structure of metabolites and previous reports.