Abstract
Insomnia is a common and widespread sleeping disorder caused by various risk factors. Though beneficial, conventional treatments of insomnia have significant limitations. As an alternative treatment, Chinese herbal formula Suanzaoren prescription (SZRP), composed of Suanzaoren [seeds of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa (Bunge) Hu ex H.F.Chow] and four additional herbs, has been reported with significant anti-insomnia effects. Yet the anti-insomnia mechanism of the herb formulae remains unknown. In this study, we attempted to extrapolate the holistic anti-insomnia mechanism of SZRP through herbal targeting and network pharmacology. The results indicated that the ingredients of Suanzaoren can target multi-neurotransmitter receptors at synapse interface, which was reported to be associated with sedative and hypnotic effects, while the four additional herbs can hit multiple pathways downstream of membrane neurotransmitters. Furthermore, the four additional herbs showed highly cooperative targeting patterns in the paralleled and cross-talked pathways related to inflammatory regulation and endocrine system, which may contribute to the additional relief of insomnia caused by inflammation, anxiety, or endocrine disorder. The interesting complementary mechanism we found among the herbal groups of SZRP may provide an example to study Chinese herbal formula and offers clues to future design of anti-insomnia strategy.
Highlights
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder in which people have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep (Punnoose et al, 2012)
Three known therapeutic targets of anti-insomnia drugs were covered by Suanzaoren prescription (SZRP) targets including gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAR), 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor (HTR), and histamine receptor (HRH)
The anti-insomnia mechanism of SZRP was first studied in a distinctive way by networking pharmacology
Summary
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder in which people have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep (Punnoose et al, 2012). It can sap quality of life and even cause damage to health. Secondary insomnia is related to those obvious triggers, and it is generally caused by the following reasons: 1) emotional disorder including psychological stress, depression, and anxiety; 2) health conditions of chronic pain, such as arthritis, headache, and other inflammations; 3) hormone disorder including menstruation, menopause, and hyperglycemia (Pepin et al, 2014; Santoro et al, 2015); and 4) some medicines and substances
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