Mechanism of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil in treatment of slow transit constipation based on network pharmacology

Abstract

To construct the active component-action target network diagram and protein-protein interaction(PPI) network diagram of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil, so as to explore the mechanism of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil in the treatment of slow transit constipation(STC) by analyzing the functions and pathways involved in the target. The chemical constituents of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). The targets of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil were studied by PubChem, TCMSP, STITCH and Swiss Target Prediction. OMIM, Genecards-Search Resuits and TTD were used to screen out the targets of Slow Transit Constipation. The active component-action targets and PPI network diagram were constructed by Cytoscape 3.7.1. The target organ distribution was analyzed by BioGPS database. GO and KEGG pathways involved in the targets were analyzed by R language. The molecular docking between the components and the targets was verified by Discovery Studio 2.5 software. Finally, 15 volatile oil compounds from Aurantii Fructus Immaturus were detected, and 115 targets of volatile oil in the treatment of STC were predicted. GO enrichment analysis showed that the activity of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil mainly involved blood circulation, circulation system process, response to steroid hormone, signal release and other biological processes. There were 23 KEGG enrichment pathways, among which Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, cAMP signaling pathway, Endocrine resistance, Calcium signaling pathway and Serotonergic synapse pathways played a significant role in STC. The results of molecular docking showed that relevant target proteins for the treatment of STC were ACHE, PTGS2, SLC6 A2 and CNR2.The multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathwaycharacteristics of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil were revealed by network pharmacology, which provided a new therapeutic idea and method for the further study of the mechanism of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus volatile oil in the treatment of STC.