Metabolomics integrated network pharmacology reveals the mechanism of Ma-Mu-Ran Antidiarrheal Capsules on acute enteritis mice

Acute enteritis (AE) is a type of digestive disease caused by biochemical factors that irritate the intestinal tract or pathogenic bacteria that infect it. In China, Ma-Mu-Ran Antidiarrheal Capsules (MMRAC) have been applied against diarrhea caused by AE and bacillary dysentery for many years, but the underlying mechanisms of their beneficial effects are not known. In the present study, network pharmacology and metabolomics were performed to clarify the active ingredients of MMRAC and explore the specific mechanism of MMRAC on AE mice. A total of 43 active components of MMRAC with 87 anti-AE target genes were identified, and these target genes were enriched in IL-17 and HIF-1 signaling pathways. Integration analysis revealed that purine metabolism was the critical metabolic pathway by which MMRAC exerted its therapeutic effect against AE. Specifically, MAPK14, MMP9, PTGS2, HIF1A, EGLN1, NOS2 were the pivotal targets of MMRAC for the treatment of AE, and Western blot analysis revealed MMRAC to decrease protein levels of these pro-inflammatory signaling molecules. According to molecular docking, these key targets have a strong affinity with the MMRAC compounds. Collectively, MMRAC relieved the colon inflammation of AE mice via regulating inflammatory signaling pathways to reduce hypoxia and improved energy metabolism.