AIM: To illuminate the molecular targets for schisandrin against cerebrovascular disease based on the combined methods of network pharmacology prediction and experimental verification. METHOD: A protein database was established through constructing the drug-protein network from literature mining data. The protein-protein network was built through an in-depth exploration of the relationships between the proteins. The computational platform was implemented to predict and extract the sensitive sub-network with significant P-values from the protein-protein network. Then the key targets and pathways were identified from the sensitive sub-network. The most related targets and pathways were also confirmed in hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)-induced PC12 cells by Western blotting. RESULTS: Twelve differentially expressed proteins(gene names: NFKB1, RELA, TNFSF10, MAPK1, CHUK, CASP8, PIGS2, MAPK14, CREB1, IFNG, APP, and BCL2) were confirmed as the central nodes of the interaction network(45 nodes, 93 edges). The NF-κB signaling pathway was suggested as the most related pathway of schisandrin for cerebrovascular disease. Furthermore, schisandrin was found to suppress the expression and phosphorylation of IKKα, as well as p50 and p65 induced by H2O2 in PC12 cells by Western blotting. CONCLUSION: The computational platform that integrates literature mining data, protein-protein interactions, sensitive sub-network, and pathway results in identification of the NF-κB signaling pathway as the key targets and pathways for schisandrin.
The present study was designed to investigate whether a combination of four effective components derived from Sheng-mai san(SMXZF; ginsenoside Rb1: ginsenoside Rg1: DT^(–1)3: Schizandrol A as 6 : 9 : 4 : 5) could attenuate hydrogen peroxide(H_2O_2)-induced injury in PC12 cells, focusing on the Akt and MAPK pathways. The PC12 cells were exposed to H_2O_2(400 mmol·L^(–1)) for 1 h in the presence or absence of SMXZF pre-treatment for 24 h. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The efflux of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), the intracellular content of malondialdehyde(MDA), the activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD), and caspase-3 were also determined. Cell apoptosis was measured by Hoechst 33342 staining and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining method. The expression of Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase-3, Akt, and MAPKs were detected by Western blotting analyses. SMXZF pretreatment significantly increased the cell viability and SOD activity and improved the cell morphological changes, while reduced the levels of LDH and MDA at the concentrations of 0.1, 1 and 10 μg·m L^(–1). SMXZF also inhibited H_2O_2-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. Moreover, SMXZF reduced the activity of caspase-3, up-regulated the protein ratio of Bcl-2 and Bax and inhibited the expression of cleaved caspase-3, p-Akt, p-p38, p-JNK and p-ERK1/2 in H_2O_2-induced PC12 cells. Co-incubation of Akt inhibitor or p38 inhibitor partly attenuated the protection of SMXZF against H_2O_2-injured PC12 cells. In conclusion, our findings suggested that SMXZF attenuated H_2O_2-induced injury in PC12 cells by inhibiting Akt and MAPKs signaling pathways, which might shed insights on its neuroprotective mechanism.
CAO Guo-ShengLI Shao-XiaWANG YanXU Ying-QiongLV Yan-NiKOU Jun-PingYU Bo-Yang
