Abstract
Hypertension is a clinical cardiovascular syndrome characterized by elevated systemic arterial pressure with or without multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Radix Pueraria (RP) has the effects of anti-myocardial ischemia, anti-arrhythmia, vasodilatation, blood pressure reduction, anti-inflammation, and attenuating insulin resistance. Although RP can be effective for the treatment of hypertension, its active compounds, drug targets, and exact molecular mechanism are still unclear. In this study, systems pharmacology was used to analyze the active compounds, drug target genes, and key pathways of RP in the treatment of hypertension. Thirteen active compounds and related information on RP were obtained from the TCMSP database, and 140 overlapping genes related to hypertension and drugs were obtained from the GeneCards and OMIM databases. A PPI network and a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) comprehensive network (Drug-Compounds-Genes-Disease network) were constructed, and 2,246 GO terms and 157 pathways were obtained by GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Some important active compounds and targets were evaluated by in vitro experiments. This study shows that RP probably acts by influencing the proliferation module, apoptosis module, inflammation module, and others when treating hypertension. This study provides novel insights for researchers to systematically explore the mechanism of action of TCM.
Highlights
Hypertension is a clinical cardiovascular syndrome characterized by elevated systemic arterial pressure with or without multiple cardiovascular risk factors
All compounds contained in Radix Puerariae (RP) were searched from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP, http://tcmspw.com)
It is imperative to explore the mechanism of RP in the treatment of hypertension by applying a systems pharmacology method combined with screening of active compounds, drug targets, and network and pathway analysis
Summary
Hypertension is a clinical cardiovascular syndrome characterized by elevated systemic arterial pressure with or without multiple cardiovascular risk factors. It is an important cause of and risk factor for a variety of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, affecting the structure and function of the heart, brain, kidney, and other important organs, eventually leading to organ failure (National Clinical Guideline Centre (UK), 2011; Moran et al, 2015). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in clinical treatment in China for more than 2,500 years (Robinson, 2011). Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated much experience in the treatment of hypertension, obesity hypertension, refractory hypertension, and other aspects (Xu and Chen, 2008; Wang and Xiong, 2012; Xiong et al, 2013). Pathogenesis can be divided into liver-yang hyperactivity, phlegm-dampness, blood stasis, liver-kidney Yin deficiency, kidney-yang deficiency. Puerarin, a major compound in RP, can attenuate angiotensin II–induced cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting the activation of the redoxsensitive ERK1/2, p38, and the NF-kB signaling pathways (Chen G. et al, 2014)
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