Exploration on mechanisms of Xiaoyao Powder in treating atherosclerosis and depressive disorder with concept of "treating different diseases with same method" based on network pharmacology

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to explore the mechanism of Xiaoyao Powder in treating atherosclerosis and depressive disorder with concept of "treating different diseases with same method" based on network pharmacology. TCMSP(Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform) and SymMap databases were used to search all the chemical components and targets related to Xiaoyao Powder. After preliminary screening, the network of "herbs-compounds-targets" was constructed. Through DisGeNET, CTD(Comparative Toxicogenomics Database) and TTD(Therapeutic Target Database), the targets of atherosclerosis and depressive disorder were obtained. The common targets were obtained by intersecting the herbal targets and disease targets. In order to screen the key common targets, STRING and Cytoscape were used to analyze the protein-protein interaction of common targets. BioGPS was used to obtain their distribution information in organs and tissues. Gene ontology(GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) analysis were conducted through Metascape. About 1 355 compounds of Xiaoyao Powder were found by TCMSP and Symmap database; 161 active compounds were screened out according to standard of oral bioavailability≥30% and drug like index≥0.18; 274 herbal targets were obtained and the "herbs-compounds-targets" network was constructed. About 1 004 atherosclerosis targets and 578 depressive disorder targets were obtained, and 37 common targets were obtained after intersection with herbal targets. By using STRING and Cytoscape for protein-protein interaction analysis, 18 key targets were screened. BioGPS showed that the key common targets were mainly distributed in heart, amygdala, pineal, liver and smooth muscle. Metascape was used for GO enrichment analysis and the results showed that there were 929 biological processes, 25 cell components and 23 molecular functions. Enrichment ana-lysis of KEGG showed that there were 108 signal pathways such as AGE-RAGE, HIF-1, FoxO, Th17 cell differentiation and IL-17 signal pathways, which were mainly related to neuroendocrine system, metabolism, immune inflammation and oxidative stress. In conclusion, the main mechanism of Xiaoyao Powder in treating atherosclerosis and depressive disorder with concept of "treating different diseases with same method" was related to neuroendocrine system, metabolism, immune inflammation and oxidative stress-related signal pathway, providing reference for further experimental verification, potential pharmacological mechanism and clinical application.