A new strategy for analyzing the active ingredients of herbal medicines
based on the public bioinformatics platforms
Abstract
Background and Purpose The active ingredients analysis of herbal
medicines is crucial for their quality control and efficacy/safety
evaluation. Here, we propose a new strategy for effectively and rapidly
analyzing the active ingredients of herbal medicines based on the public
bioinformatics platforms. In the study, the treatment of osteoarthritis
(OA) by Herba Lysimachiae (HL) was used as an example to practice this
strategy. Experimental Approach Applying the public databases (PubChem
BioAssay and STRING) to establish the links between herbal compounds and
the biolabels (integrin alpha 2b/beta 3) of HL treating OA, from which
herbal compounds that may regulate both biolabels were screened. OA
model was used to confirm the analysis results. Key Results Five
compounds (myricetin, fisetin, esculetin, 7-hydroxycoumarin-4-acetic
acid, and caffeic acid) from HL synergistically regulated both biolabels
through eleven targets, which may be the active ingredients of HL
treating OA. Conclusion and Implications The experiments in the OA model
verified the analysis results. With the help of the analysis strategy,
the present study effectively and rapidly analyzes the active
ingredients of HL treating OA. The example in this research also
verifies the feasibility of this strategy, which is of reference
significance to the related studies of other herbal medicines.