Network pharmacological analysis of Chaihu Guizhi Decoction for treating different diseases with same method on gastric ulcer and epilepsy

Kai-Bin SUN

ABSTRACT

Objective:

Under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory, this paper used network pharmacology model to explore the effective components and mechanism of “treating different diseases with same method” of Chaihu Guizhi Decoction (CHGZD) in treating gastric ulcer and epilepsy, which provided modern medical evidence for the theory of “treating different diseases with same method” of traditional Chinese medicine.

Methods:

The chemical constituents and potential targets of CHGZD were collected by TCMSP and TCMID databases. Disease targets of gastric ulcer and epilepsy were obtained in PubMed, CTD, and OMIM databases. Cytoscape 3.6.0 software was used to map CHGZD for gastric ulcer and epilepsy. The pharmacodynamic basis and molecular mechanism of the “treating different diseases with same method” network, and the functional and pathway enrichment analysis of gene targets was analyzed by DAVID 6.8 and KOBAS 3.0.

Results:

A total of 198 kinds of chemical constituents, 417 target targets, 114 gastric ulcer disease targets, and 461 epileptic disease targets were collected from CHGZD. Network analysis showed that 152 active components such as quercetin, beta-sitosterol, wogonin, kaempferol, and saikosaponin a in CHGZD played a role in the treatment of gastric ulcers and epilepsy through 17 common targets including PTGS2, VEGFA, TP53, IL6, and TNF, and 62 pathways such as pathways in cancer, and proteoglycans in cancer.

Conclusion:

The similar efficacy network composed of 17 common targets in gastric ulcer and epilepsy was the basis for CHGZD to play the role of “different disease and common treatment”. A total of 152 components work together through 62 pathways and 17 pathways to achieve the effect of “treating different diseases with same method”, which provides modern medical evidence for the traditional Chinese medicine to treat gastric ulcer and epilepsy from the liver and spleen.