Studies on the compatibility mechanism and material basis of Danggui Buxue Decoction against anemia mice using metabonomics and network pharmacology

Objectives To reveal the compatibility mechanism and material basis of Danggui Buxue decoction (DBD) against anaemia. Methods UHPLC-Q-Exactive-MS based serum metabonomics was applied to decipher the compatibility of DBD against anaemia mice. Meanwhile, network pharmacology was used to reveal the material basis of DBD based on the obtained differential metabolites. Key findings Metabonomic results indicated that 17 serum differential metabolites were closely related to anaemia. DBD, Huangqi (HQ) and Danggui (DG) could significantly ameliorate 13, 6 and 4 serum metabolites in anaemia mice, respectively. 17 serum differential metabolites were linked 140 corresponding targeted genes obtained by Metscape. In addition, 6649 targets genes related anaemia were obtained by network pharmacology. At last, six important targets genes were screened as hopeful targets for the treatment of anaemia through integrating them. Molecular docking further illustrated that eight active components of DBD including mairin, hederagenin, etc. played important roles in treating anaemia. Conclusions DBD produced the best effect by compatibility with HQ and DG in treating anaemia. The approach provided the insights into the compatibility mechanism and material basis of TCM in treating anaemia coupling network pharmacology.