Open AccessIdentification of the significant pathways of Banxia Houpu decoction in the treatment of depression based on network pharmacology
Author(s) -
Ziying Chen,
Danfeng Xie,
Zhiyuan Liu,
Yongqi Zhong,
Jingyan Zeng,
Zheng Chen,
Xinlin Chen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0239843
Subject(s) - kegg , traditional chinese medicine , systems pharmacology , signal transduction , pi3k/akt/mtor pathway , depression (economics) , pharmacology , biological pathway , decoction , identification (biology) , medicine , computational biology , mapk/erk pathway , erbb , gene , traditional medicine , bioinformatics , gene ontology , biology , gene expression , alternative medicine , genetics , drug , macroeconomics , botany , economics , pathology
Banxia Houpu decoction (BXHPD) has been used to treat depression in clinical practice for centuries. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of BXHPD still remain unclear. Network Pharmacology (NP) approach was used to explore the potential molecular mechanisms of BXHPD in treating depression. Potential active compounds of BXHPD were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform Database. STRING database was used to build a interaction network between the active compounds and target genes associated with depression. The topological features of nodes were visualized and calculated. Significant pathways and biological functions were identified using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. A total of 44 active compounds were obtained from BXHPD, and 121 potential target genes were considered to be therapeutically relevant. Pathway analysis indicated that MAPK signaling pathway, ErbB signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt pathway were significant pathways in depression. They were mainly involved in promoting nerve growth and nutrition and alleviating neuroinflammatory conditions. The result provided some potential ways for modern medicine in the treatment of depression.