Objective: To discover and interpret the correlations between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) slices and their properties such as function, symptom and channel tropism by constructing the relationship network using network pharmacology approaches.
Method: TCM slices related information was extracted from Chinese Pharmacopeia (2010 edition, volume I) by text mining, and was used to construct the TCM slices-symptom relationship network. The corresponding network analysis was also performed.
Result: Three thousands and sixteen pair of TCM slice-symptom correlation associated with 646 TCM slices was discovered, and the constructed network unfolded the complex relationships between TCM slices. Further network analysis results indicated that the un-annotated function and channel tropism of TCM slice can be revealed by proposed symptom-based network.
Conclusion: Network pharmacology approaches can be applied in TCM research to discover and interpret the relationships between TCM slices and their properties.