Mechanism of Shexiang Tongxin Dropping Pills in treating diabetic cardiomyopathy based on network pharmacology and animal experiments

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the mechanism of Shexiang Tongxin Dropping Pills(STDP) in treating diabetic cardiomyopathy(DCM) based on network pharmacology, molecular docking, and animal experiments. BATMAN, TCMSP, and GeneCards were searched for the active ingredients and targets of STDP against DCM. STRING and Cytoscape were used to build the protein-protein interaction(PPI) network and "drug-active ingredient-target" network. Gene Ontology(GO) functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) enrichment analysis of the targets were carried out based on DAVID. The molecular docking of key receptor proteins with corresponding active ingredients was performed using AutoDock Vina. The rat model of DCM was established by a high-fat diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Rats were assigned into control, model, low-(20 mg·kg~(-1)) and high-dose(40 mg·kg~(-1)) STDP, and metformin(200 mg·kg~(-1)) groups. After 8 weeks of continuous administration, the cardiac function, myocardial pathological changes, and myocardial collagen fiber deposition of rats in each group were detected by echocardiography, hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining, and Sirius red staining, respectively. The myocardial hypertrophy was detected by WGA staining. The expression levels of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(p38), phosphorylation-p38(p-p38), c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK), phosphorylation-JNK(p-JNK), caspase-3, and C-caspase-3 in the myocardial tissue of rats in each group were measured by Western blot. The network pharmacology predicted 199 active ingredients and 1 655 targets of STDP and 463 targets of DCM. One hundred and thirty-four potential targets of STDP for treating DCM were obtained, and the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications was screened out. Molecular docking results showed that miltirone, dehydromiltirone, and tryptanthrin had strong binding affinity with RAGE. The results of animal experiments confirmed that STDP effectively protected the cardiac function of DCM rats. Compared with the DCM model group, the STDP groups showed significantly down-regulated protein levels of p-p38, p-JNK, and C-caspase-3. To sum up, STDP may protect the cardiac function of DCM rats by regulating the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway.