Network pharmacology-based analysis of Chinese herbal Naodesheng formula for application to Alzheimer's disease

Publication date: January 2018 Source:Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines, Volume 16, Issue 1 Author(s): Xiao-Cong PANG, De KANG, Jian-Song FANG, Ying ZHAO, Lv-Jie XU, Wen-Wen LIAN, Ai-Lin LIU, Guan-Hua DU Naodesheng (NDS) formula, which consists of Rhizoma Chuanxiong, Lobed Kudzuvine, Carthamus tinctorius, Radix Notoginseng, and Crataegus pinnatifida, is widely applied for the treatment of cardio/cerebrovascular ischemic diseases, ischemic stroke, and sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage, etc. At present, the studies on NDS formula for Alzheimer's disease (AD) only focus on single component of this prescription, and there is no report about the synergistic mechanism of the constituents in NDS formula for the potential treatment of dementia. Therefore, the present study aimed to predict the potential targets and uncover the mechanisms of NDS formula for the treatment of AD. Firstly, we collected the constituents in NDS formula and key targets toward AD. Then, drug-likeness, oral bioavailability, and blood-brain barrier permeability were evaluated to find drug-like and lead-like constituents for treatment of central nervous system diseases. By combining the advantages of machine learning, molecular docking, and pharmacophore mapping, we attempted to predict the targets of constituents and find potential multi-target compounds from NDS formula. Finally, we built constituent-target network, constituent-target-target network and target-biological pathway network to study th...
Source: Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research