Systematically characterize the substance basis of Jinzhen oral liquid and their pharmacological mechanism using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS combined with network pharmacology analysis

Abstract

Jinzhen oral liquid (JZ) is a classical traditional Chinese medicine formula used for the treatment of children lung disease. However, the effective substance of JZ is still unclear. In this study, we used lung injury rat model to study the protective effect of JZ, through UPLC-Q-TOF/MS detection coupled with metabolic research and network pharmacology analysis. Fortunately, 31 absorbed prototype constituents and 41 metabolites were identified or tentatively characterized based on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS analysis, and the possible metabolic pathways were hydroxylation, sulfation and glucuronidation. We optimized the data screening in the early stage of network pharmacology by collecting targets based on adsorbed constituents, and further analyzed the main biological processes and pathways. 24 selected core targets were frequently involved in reactive oxygen species metabolic process, dopaminergic synapse pathway and so on, which might play important roles in the mechanisms of JZ for the treatment of lung injury. Overall, the absorbed constituents and their possible metabolic pathways, as well as the absorbed constituent-target-disease network provided insights into the mechanisms of JZ for the treatment of lung injury. Further studies are needed to validate the biological processes and effect pathways of JZ.