Mechanism of Yixishu lotion in the treatment of vaginitis based on network pharmacology combined with experimental validation: an experimental research study

Weimin Huo; Zeng Jing; Ran Wang; Sumei Tao; Qiaohong Li; Shuli Gao; Meimei Feng

doi:10.1097/MS9.0000000000000920

Mechanism of Yixishu lotion in the treatment of vaginitis based on network pharmacology combined with experimental validation: an experimental research study

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2023 Jul 28;85(12):5932-5940. doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000000920. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Weimin Huo¹, Zeng Jing¹, Ran Wang¹, Sumei Tao¹, Qiaohong Li¹, Shuli Gao², Meimei Feng¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy.
² Preparation Department, Shijiazhuang Fourth Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Objective: Yixishu lotion (YXSL) originates from the summary of traditional Chinese medicine clinical experience and constantly improves in practice in clinical validation of the exact efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine prescription. To explore the mechanism of YXSL in treating vaginitis and the potential mechanisms based on network pharmacology and experimental verification.

Methods: The active components and drug-related targets of YXSL were retrieved from the TCMSP (Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform) database, and the target was predicted by the UniProt database. Searching for genes related to 'vaginitis' disease in the GeneCards database, a total of 2581 drug targets were obtained. The interaction between proteins (PPI - protein-protein interaction) relationship was obtained by STRING database and visualized by Cytoscape software. Finally, the 'Bioconductor' installation package in R software was used to analyze the GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathways of the target.

Results: In this study, by the method of network pharmacology, the key active components of YXSL were flavonoids such as quercetin, apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, β-sitosterol; the main core proteins included MAPK14, TP53, FGF2, ESR1, MAPK3, MAPK1, VEGFA, JUN, IL-6, and the KEGG pathway was mainly involved in MAPK pathway, Th17 pathway, Malaria, TNF pathway, and other signaling pathways. Animal experiments showed that the clinical symptoms and vaginal tissue lesions of the YXSL group and the fluconazole group were improved, and the levels of TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor alpha), IL-6 (interleukin-6), MDA (malondialdehyde), SOD (superoxide dismutase), IL-4, and IFN-γ (interferon-γ) in vaginal tissue and serum were better than the model group.

Conclusion: YXSL may achieve its therapeutic effect on vaginitis by reducing the inflammatory response, improving oxidative stress response, and improving body immunity, and it provides a theoretical basis for further research on its pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of action.

Keywords: Yixishu lotion; network pharmacology; target; vaginitis.