A network pharmacology approach to explore the pharmacological mechanism of Epimedium brevicornum in sexual dysfunction

doi:10.5246/jcps.2023.05.032

Abstract

Abstract:

Network pharmacology is a research method for designing multi-target drug molecules based on the theory of systems biology and network analysis of biological systems by selecting specific signal nodes to show the multi-component and multi-target attributes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In the present study, we predicted the mechanism of Epimedium brevicornum (EB) in the treatment of sexual dysfunction (SD) using network pharmacology. Moreover, chemical constituents of EB were queried using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) server, and the targets related to SD were obtained using Genecards and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM). An intersection of genes was discovered. Subsequently, protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed with Cytoscape 3.7.1 software and the STRING database. Additionally, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed using WebGestalt. A total of 21 active drug ingredients were identified in the TCMSP database. Besides, 1003 disease targets from the GeneCards and OMIM databases were screened. Furthermore, 67 common targets for drugs and diseases were obtained using the Venny online tools. The results of this study preliminarily verified the basic pharmacological activity of EB in the treatment of SD, laying a foundation for elucidating its mechanism of action.

Key words: Epimedium brevicornum, Network pharmacology, Sexual dysfunctions, Component-target

Supporting:

Guangzhi Shen, Xingang Cui, Zhimin Na, Yulong Zou, Guihua Zou. A network pharmacology approach to explore the pharmacological mechanism of Epimedium brevicornum in sexual dysfunction[J]. Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2023, 32(5): 379-391.

Figures/Tables 13

Table 1. Active compounds of EB.

Table 2. Targets of EB.

Table 3. Topology characteristics of hub nodes from the compound network.

Table 4. Topology characteristics of the drug-compound-target-disease network.

Table 5. Biological process categories.

Table 6. Cellular component categories.

Table 7. Molecular function categories.

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