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Chinese Medicine
Published in: Chinese Medicine 1/2022

Open Access 01-12-2022 | Arterial Occlusive Disease | Research

Quality assessment and Q-markers discovery of Tongsaimai tablet by integrating serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology for anti-atherosclerosis benefit

Authors: Yanfen Cheng, Meng Xiao, Jiamei Chen, Di Wang, Yichen Hu, Chenfeng Zhang, Tuanjie Wang, Chaomei Fu, Yihan Wu, Jinming Zhang

Published in: Chinese Medicine | Issue 1/2022

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Abstract

Background

The limited therapeutic outcomes of atherosclerosis (AS) have allowed, traditional Chinese medicine has been well established as an alternative approach in ameliorating AS and associated clinical syndromes. Clinically, Tongsaimai tablet (TSMT), a commercial Chinese patent medicine approved by CFDA, shows an obvious therapeutic effect on AS treatment. However, its effective mechanism and quality control still need thorough and urgent exploration.

Methods

The mice were orally administered with TSMT and their serum was investigated for the absorbed compounds using serum pharmacochemistry via the UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap/MS analysis was employed to investigate these absorbed compounds in serum of mice orally administrated with TSMT. Based on these absorbed prototype compounds in serum derived from TSMT, a component-target-disease network was constructed using network pharmacology strategy, which elucidated the potential bioactive components, effective targets, and molecular mechanisms of TSMT against AS. Further, the screened compounds from the component-target network were utilized as the quality control (QC) markers, determining multi-component content determination and HPLC fingerprint to assess quality of nine batches of TSMT samples.

Results

A total of 164 individual components were identified in TSMT. Among them, 29 prototype compounds were found in serum of mice administrated with TSMT. Based on these candidate prototype components, 34 protein targets and 151 pathways related to AS were predicted, and they might significantly exhibit potential anti-AS mechanisms via synergistic regulations of lipid regulation, shear stress, and anti-inflammation, etc. Five potentially bioactive ingredients in TSMT, including Ferulic acid, Liquiritin, Senkyunolide I, Luteolin and Glycyrrhizic acid in quantity not less than 1.2798, 0.4716, 0.5419, 0.1349, 4.0386 mg/g, respectively, screened from the component-target-pathway network. Thereby, these indicated that these five compounds of TMST which played vital roles in the attenuation of AS could serve as crucial marker compounds for quality control.

Conclusions

Overall, based on the combination of serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology, the present study firstly provided a useful strategy to establish a quality assessment approach for TSMT by screening out the potential anti-AS mechanisms and chemical quality markers.

Graphical Abstract

Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Quality assessment and Q-markers discovery of Tongsaimai tablet by integrating serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology for anti-atherosclerosis benefit
Authors
Yanfen Cheng
Meng Xiao
Jiamei Chen
Di Wang
Yichen Hu
Chenfeng Zhang
Tuanjie Wang
Chaomei Fu
Yihan Wu
Jinming Zhang
Publication date
01-12-2022
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Chinese Medicine / Issue 1/2022
Electronic ISSN: 1749-8546
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13020-022-00658-9

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