Medication Rules in Herbal Medicine for Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Network Pharmacology and Data Mining Study

Abstract

Background. Although traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has good efficacy in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), especially memory improvement and safety, its substance basis and intervention mechanism are particularly complex and unknown. Therefore, based on network pharmacology and data mining, this study aims to explore the rules, active ingredients and mechanism of TCM in the treatment of MCI. Methods. By searching the GeneCard, OMIM, DisGeNET and DrugBank databases, we obtained the critical targets associated with MCI. We matched the components and herbs corresponding to the important targets in the TCMSP platform. Using Cytoscape 3.7.2 software, we constructed a target-component-herb network and conducted a network topology analysis to obtain the core components and herbs. Molecular docking was used to preliminarily analyze and predict the binding activities and main binding combinations of the core targets and components. Based on the analysis of the properties, flavor and meridian distribution of herbs, the rules of herbal therapy for MCI were summarized. Results. Twenty-eight critical targets were obtained after the screening. Using the TCMSP platform, 492 components were obtained. After standardization, we obtained 387 herbs. Based on the target-composition-herb network analysis, the core targets were ADRB2, ADRA1B, DPP4, ACHE and ADRA1D. According to the screening, the core ingredients were beta-sitosterol, quercetin, kaempferol, stigmasterol and luteolin. The core herbs were matched to Danshen, Yanhusuo, Gancao, Gouteng and Jiangxiang. It was found that the herbs were mainly warm in nature, pungent in taste and liver and lung in meridian. The molecular docking results showed that most core components exhibited strong binding activity to the target combination regardless of the in or out of network combination. Conclusion. The results of this study indicate that herbs have great potential in the treatment of MCI. This study provides a reference and basis for clinical application, experimental research and new drug development of herbal therapy for MCI.

Literature review on the interdisciplinary biomarkers of multi-target and multi-time herbal medicine therapy to modulate peripheral systems in cognitive impairment

“…These markers can be detected before clinical symptoms and provide an objective, accurate measurement. In particular, compared to the accumulated research on network pharmacology analysis based on the target information of phytochemicals contained in HMs ( Chang et al, 2022 ), transcriptome-based research on molecular mechanism and neuroimaging research of HM were insufficient. Therefore, multi-time and multi-target treatment strategies must be established by exploring HM that reverse the stage-specific altered biomarkers of AD.…”

“…In the current situation where transcriptome data is scarce, HMs effective in MCI can be explored through a network pharmacological approach, which analyses drug effects at the level of gene-drug interactions, rather than at the level of gene expression changes ( Lee M. et al, 2022 ). In a recent study, target genes important in MCI were selected from previous literature and databases through data mining, and then herbs with potential applicability in MCI were selected by analyzing the target-component-herb network ( Chang et al, 2022 ). In the reconstructed network, Danshen ( Salvia miltiorrhiza bunge) and Yanhusuo ( Corydalis yanhusuo ) were the HMs that acted on most targets, and the core target genes were ADRB2, ADRA1B, DPP4, ACHE, and ADRA1D.…”

The efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials

“…Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used to manage cognitive impairment in China for a long history ( May and Feng, 2018 ; May and Feng, 2020 ). A recent network pharmacology study indicates that, CHM exhibits considerable potential for treating MCI, which may attributed to various mechanisms including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, anti-amyloid-beta toxicity, cholinergic system regulation, and neuroprotective effects ( Chang et al, 2022 ). Previous systematic reviews have acknowledged the potential of CHM in enhancing cognitive function among patients with MCI ( Dong et al, 2016 ; Dong et al, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2021 ; Liang et al, 2022 ).…”