Original Article Utilizing Network Pharmacology to Explore the Scientific Connotation of Processing Technology About Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata
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Int J Clin Exp Med 2019;12(12):13504-13513 www.ijcem.com /ISSN:1940-5901/IJCEM0100588 Original Article Utilizing network pharmacology to explore the scientific connotation of processing technology about Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata Ruoqi Li, Guowei Zhou, Tianwei Xia, Yuxuan Wang, Chaoqun Ma, Jirong Shen Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China Received August 5, 2019; Accepted October 8, 2019; Epub December 15, 2019; Published December 30, 2019 Abstract: Objective: Network pharmacology method was adopted in this study to establish differential component- target network of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata before and after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times”, explore the mechanism of the difference of pharmacological effect, reveal the scientific connotation of the process- ing method. Methods: The different components of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata before and after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times” were detected by consulting and screening the literature. PubChem database was used to convert all compounds to standard Canonical SMILES format. SMILES format files were imported into Swiss Target Prediction platform to predict potential targets for different components (possibility > 0). Targets with the highest confidence (score 0.900) were screened from STRING database to construct protein-protein interaction network. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment were analyzed by ClusterProfiler package in R language. Results: A total of 12 different components (catalpol, ajugol, Rehmannioside A, Acteoside, 5-hydroxymethy lfurfu- ral, Isoacteoside, stachyose, D(+)-Sucrose, raffinose, fructose, glucose and Manninotriose) were screened through literature review, and 101 potential targets were predicted. The GO analysis contained a total of 113 enrichment results. A total of 15 pathways were enriched by KEGG. Conclusion: The changes of glucoses (stachyose, raffinose and Manninotriose) in Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata may be the main reason for the enhancement of the tonifying effect (such as Notch signaling pathway, neuroactive ligand receptor interaction, etc.) after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times”. The changes of iridoid terpenoids (catalpol, ajugol, rehmannin A, etc.) and carbohydrates (D(+)-Sucrose, raffinose, glucose, Manninotriose, etc.) may be the reasons for the loss of the hypoglycemic effect of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times”. The change of pharmaco- logical action is the result from chemical composition interaction of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata. Keywords: Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata, network pharmacology, steamed for nine times and dried for nine times, differential components, efficacy Introduction manniae Radix Praeparata before and after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine Rehmannia glutinosa is root of Rehmannia glu- times”, but the specific mechanism is unclear. tinosa. The Rehmanniae Radix can be divided into fresh Rehmanniae Radix, Rehmanniae Ra- Network pharmacology abolish the traditional dix, Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata. “Rehman- research mode of “one target, one disease, one niae Radix Praeparata” and its processing drug” [1]. The strategy resonates well with the method are first recorded in “prepared qianjin holistic view of traditional Chinese medicine yaofang” and “qianjin yifang” written by Simiao (TCM), which is referred to as “multi-ingredient, Sun. Although processing technology of Re- multi-pathway and multi-target synergy”. In re- hmanniae Radix Praeparata is controversial, cent years, many related research reports indi- herbalists regard “steamed for nine times and cate that exploring the molecular mechanism of dried for nine times” as processing criteria. Sci- TCM efficacy will become possible. This study entists have discovered the differences of the retrieved the difference of composition and content and pharmacological effects of Reh- its targets of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata Processing technology and Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu), and fil- tered out the components th- at have been verified the con- tent of Rehmanniae Radix Pr- aeparata before and after “st- eamed for nine times and dri- ed for nine times”. All acti- ve compounds in Rehmanni- ae Radix Praeparata were input to the Pubchem data- base (https://pubchem.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/) [4] to obtain the Canonical SMILES. Prediction of potential targets of different components and construction of compound- target network Swiss Target Prediction (ht- tp://www.swisstarge tpredic- tion.ch/) is a network platform that can predict small mole- cule targets on the basis of the 2D and 3D similarity mea- Figure 1. Flowchart of utilizing network pharmacology to explore the scien- surements of ligands [5]. Fir- tific connotation of “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times” about stly, the Canonical SMILES of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata. compounds were submitted to the platform. Then, the prop- before and after “steamed for nine times and erty was set to “Homo Sapiens” to obtain the dried for nine times”, used bioinformatics meth- predicted targets (Possibility > 0). The results ods to explore the scientific connotation of pro- are visualized using Cytoscape 3.2.1. cessing methods, “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times”, in order to provide a basis Construction of protein-protein interaction for further research and wide application in (PPI) network clinic. The workflow of this study was shown in STRING database (http://string-db.org) can as- Figure 1. sess and integrate direct (physical) and indirect Methods (chemical) associations among proteins [6]. The target data were uploaded to the STRING Screening of different components of database, the attribute was set to “Homo Sa- Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata before and af- piens”, the confidence score was set to the highest confidence (score 0.900), and the pro- ter “steamed for nine times and dried for nine tein-protein interaction network (PPI) was con- times” structed. We consulted the literature related to the meth- Enrichment analysis of the GO function and od “steamed for nine times and dried for nine KEGG pathway times” about Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata (by the end of June 1, 2019, and removed the We used the org.Hs.eg.db packet in the R lan- non-“steamed for nine times and dried for ni- guage to convert the gene name to Entirez IDs, ne times” processing methods) in the China then used the ClusterProfiler packet to enrich National Knowledge Infrastructure (Http:// the network with GO enrichment and KEGG www.cnki.net/) and PubMed (Https://www. enrichment pathways [7]. The pathways whose 13505 Int J Clin Exp Med 2019;12(12):13504-13513 Processing technology and Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata P-values were less than 0.05 were considered Enrichment analysis of the GO function and statistically significant. KEGG pathway Results A total of 113 enrichment results were ana- lyzed in the GO analysis. 15 results were relat- Screening of different components of ed to cellular component (CC), 23 results were Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata before and af- related to molecular function (MF), 75 results ter “steamed for nine times and dried for nine were related to biological process (BP). The top times” 20 results were listed in Table 2 according to P value from low to high. Most of them were relat- The results showed the content of Catalpol, ed to the biological processes, such as Notch Acteoside, ajugol, stachyose, D(+)-Sucrose, Raf- receptor processing, adenylate cyclase-activat- finose decreased, and the content of Rehman- ing adrenergic receptor signaling pathway, ade- nioside_A, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, Isoacteosi- nosine receptor signaling pathway, release of de, Fructose, glucose, Manninotriose in Rehm- sequestered calcium ion into cytosol, one-car- anniae Radix Praeparata increased after “stea- bon metabolic process, glycogen catabolic pro- med for nine times and dried for nine times” cess, and so on. Cell composition included inte- [8-10]. Cycloenedoid terpenoids D was not gral component of plasma membrane, gamma- included in the study due to the content re- secretase complex, extracellular matrix, and so mained controversial. on. G-protein coupled adenosine receptor activity, adrenergic receptor activity, endopepti- Prediction of potential targets of different dase activity, neurotransmitter receptor activi- components and construction of composition- ty, etc. were related to molecular functions. target network A total of 15 pathways were enriched by KEGG After obtaining the Canonical SMILES format of (Figure 4). Most of them were related to metab- the compound, the Swiss Target Prediction da- olism, such as starch and sucrose metabolism, tabase predicted a total of 280 potential tar- galactose metabolism, fructose and mannose gets and 101 potential targets (Table 1) after metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, and so on. removing duplication. All 101 potential targets In addition, many genes were enriched in ner- were used to build a component-target network vous system-related pathways, such as neuro- (Figure 2). There were a total of 113 nodes and active ligand-receptor interaction, Notch signal- 280 edges in the network. The green rectangle ing pathway, calcium signaling pathway, and so represented the difference between the ingre- on. dients before and after “steamed for nine times and dried for nine times”, the yellow oval repre- Discussion sented the predicted targets, and the edges between nodes represented the relationships