Abstract
BackgroundMillions of people are suffering from chronic pain conditions, such as headache, arthritis, cancer. Apart from western medicines, traditional Chinese medicines are also well accepted for pain management, especially in Asian countries. Yuanhu-Baizhi herb pair (YB) is a typical herb pair applied to the treatment of stomach pain, hypochondriac pain, headache, and dysmenorrhea, due to its effects on analgesia and sedation. This study is to identify potentially active compounds and the underlying mechanisms of YB in the treatment of pain.MethodsCompounds in YB were collected from 3 online databases and then screened by bioavailability and drug likeness parameters. Swiss target prediction was applied to obtain targets information of the active compounds. Pain-related genes were conducted for Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks of the genes were constructed using Cytoscape software. In addition, the hub genes were screened using maximal clique centrality (MCC) algorithm.ResultsIn total, 31 compounds from Yuanhu were screened out with 35 putative target genes, while 26 compounds in Baizhi with 43 target genes were discovered. Hence, 78 potential target genes of YB were selected for further study. After overlap analysis of the 78 genes of YB and 2408 pain-associated genes, we finally achieved 34 YB-pain target genes, as well as 10 hub genes and 23 core compounds. Go enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis indicated that YB had a strong integration with neuro system, which might significantly contribute to antinociceptive effect.ConclusionOur data provide deep understanding of the pharmacological mechanisms of YB in attenuating pain. The discovery shed new light on the development of active compounds of YB for the treatment of pain.
Highlights
Millions of people are suffering from chronic pain conditions, such as headache, arthritis, cancer
It is estimated that 20% of individuals around the worldwide have some degree of chronic pain [1]
Further screening was carried out based on F (30%) ≥ 30% and drug likeness (DL) ≥ 30% collected from ADMETlab
Summary
Millions of people are suffering from chronic pain conditions, such as headache, arthritis, cancer. Yuanhu-Baizhi herb pair (YB) is a typical herb pair applied to the treatment of stomach pain, hypochondriac pain, headache, and dysmenorrhea, due to its effects on analgesia and sedation. This study is to identify potentially active compounds and the underlying mechanisms of YB in the treatment of pain. Accumulative studies provide substantial evidence that traditional Chinese medical therapy, including herbs, formulas, etc. Has an additive effect when used in combination with opioids or may be used as single agent treatment for pain relief [3, 4].Yuanhu-Baizhi herb pair (YB), consisting of Corydalis yanhusuo W. Considering the widely clinical use of Yuanhu and Baizhi on pain management, the active compounds and potential targets of YB on analgesia has yet to be discovered
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