Active ingredients screening and pharmacological mechanism research of curcumae rhizoma-sparganii rhizoma herb pair ameliorates liver fibrosis based on network pharmacology

Ethnopharmacological relevance Curcumae Rhizoma-Sparganii Rhizoma (CR-SR) is a classic herbal pair to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis in ancient China. However, the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Aim of study To screen out the anti-liver fibrosis active ingredients in CR-SR. Moreover, preliminary exploration the molecular mechanism of CR-SR to ameliorates liver fibrosis . Materials and methods In this research, plant taxonomy has been confirmed in the “The Plant List” database ( www.theplantlist.org ). The chemical components of CR-SR were analysed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF-MS). “Component-Target-Pathway-Disease” network of CR-SR components were built by network pharmacology . Then, the interaction between primary components and predicted protein targets based on network pharmacology were validated by molecular docking. The pharmacological actions of CR-SR were verified by blood biochemical indexes, histopathologic examination of CCL 4 induced rats’ model. The core protein targets were verified by Western blot . The effects of screened active components by molecular autodocking were verified by HSC-T6 cell experiment. Results The result shows that 57 chemical constituents in CR-SR herbal pair were identified by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS, in which, 27 compounds were closely connected with liver fibrosis related protein targets. 55 protein targets screened out by “component-target-pathway-disease network” maybe the underlying targets for CR-SR to cure liver fibrosis. Moreover, the 55 protein targets are mainly related to RNA transcription, apoptosis , and signal transduction. The molecular autodocking predicted that ten components can bond well with PTGS2 and RELA protein targets. The blood biochemical indexes, histopathologic examination of CCL 4 induced rats experiment showed that CR-SR has well intervention effect of liver fibrosis. The Western blot analysis indicated that CR-SR could significantly inhibit RELA, PTGS2, IL-6, SRC, and AKT1 protein expression to exert the anti-fibrosis effect. The HSC-T6 cell experiment indicated that both formononetin (FNT) and curdione could significantly inhibit the activation of HSC and reduce the expression of PTGS2, and p-AKT1 which was accordance with the molecular autodocking results. Conclusion This study proved the molecular mechanism of CR-SR multi-component and multi-target anti-liver fibrosis effect through mass spectrometry, network pharmacology, and western blotting technology. The research provides a theoretical evidence for the development and utilization of CR-SR herbal pair.