Systematic Investigation of Ginkgo Biloba Leaves for Treating Cardio-cerebrovascular Diseases in an Animal Model

Abstract

Globally, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) are the leading cause of death, and thus the development of novel strategies for preventing and treating such diseases is in urgent need. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), used for thousands of years in Asia and other regions, has been proven effective in certain disorders. As a long-time medicinal herb in TCM, Ginkgo biloba leaves (GBLs), have been widely used to treat various diseases including CCVDs. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of medicinal herbs in treating these diseases are still unclear. Presently, by incorporating pharmacokinetic prescreening, target fishing, and network analysis, an innovative systems-pharmacology platform was introduced to systematically decipher the pharmacological mechanism of action of GBLs for the treatment of CCVDs. The results show that GBLs exhibit a protective effect on CCVDs probably through regulating multiple pathways and hitting on multiple targets involved in several biological pathways. Our work successfully explains the mechanism of efficiency of GBLs for treating CCVDs and, meanwhile, demonstrates that GDJ, an injection generated from GBLs, could be used as a preventive or therapeutic agent in cerebral ischemia. The approach developed in this work offers a new paradigm for systematically understanding the action mechanisms of herb medicine, which will promote the development and application of TCM.

Protective effect of dihydromyricetin on LPS-induced acute lung injury

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Network Pharmacology-Based Investigation into the Mechanisms of Quyushengxin Formula for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis

“…Previous reports showed that the TCMSP-based method was reliable for screening out bioactive compounds of TCM for treatment of thrombosis [35], gastric precancerous lesions [36], cardiocerebrovascular disease [37], and rheumatoid arthritis [38]. In this study, 41 bioactive compounds of Quyushengxin formula were selected out by using TCMSP database in combination with ADME properties.…”

Combined Treatment with an Anticoagulant and a Vasodilator Prevents Steroid-Associated Osteonecrosis of Rabbit Femoral Heads by Improving Hypercoagulability

“…The extract promotes a maintenance of arterial and venous vascular tone via stimulation of catecholamine release and inhibition of degradation, together with an arterial relaxant effect via stimulation of prostacyclin and endothelium-derived relaxing factor production [ 35 ]. This extract has widely been used in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and peripheral vascular diseases [ 17 , 18 , 36 ]. However, the use of this extract in the prevention of ONFH has rarely been reported [ 37 ].…”

“…Extracts of Ginkgo biloba leaves (EGb 761) have effects including dilating blood vessels, preventing thrombus formation, decreasing levels of blood lipids, scavenging free radicals, and preventing lipid peroxidation [ 16 ]. It has been widely used in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and peripheral blood vessel diseases [ 17 , 18 ]. EGb 761 induces the relaxation of the rat thoracic aorta and is associated with an increase in endothelial intracellular calcium levels [ 19 ].…”