Exploring the pharmacological mechanism of danhe granules against hyperlipidemia by means of network pharmacology and verified by preliminary experiments

Abstract

Objective: This study explored the multicomponent, multitarget, and multipathway mechanism of Danhe granules (DG) against hyperlipidemia through network pharmacology. The relevant targets and pathways were verified by preliminary experiments. Methods: The active components of DG were selected by TCMSP and TCMIP database, and the component-target network diagram was constructed by Cytoscape 3.7.1. The protein–protein interaction network of targets was constructed and core targets were screened out by STRING11.0 database. Metascape database and Cytoscape 3.7.1 were used to enrich the target and establish a hyperlipidemia model in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats to detect blood lipid and oxidative stress indexes and observed pathological changes of aorta by H and E staining. Results: The results showed that a total of seven active components of DG were screened out, including quercetin, sitosterol, luteolin, kaempferol, etc. There were 127 corresponding targets, including AKT1, tumor necrosis factor, TP53, interleukin-6, RELA, vascular endothelial growth factor, superoxide dismutases, and catalase. It is mainly involved in biological processes such as drug response, regulation of apoptosis, redox reaction, and lipid reaction. There were 573 signal pathways corresponding to the target, including HIF-1 signal pathway, TNF signal pathway, VEGF signal pathway, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, etc. The experiment verified that DG can reduce the blood lipid of SD rats by regulating the process of oxidative stress. Conclusions: This study made a preliminary study on the pharmacological mechanism of DG against hyperlipidemia and laid the foundation for the research and development of new drugs and subsequent in-depth research.