Exploring the multicomponent synergy mechanism of Banxia Xiexin Decoction on irritable bowel syndrome by a systems pharmacology strategy.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Banxia Xiexin Decoction (BXD) is a representative prescription to regulate spleen and stomach in "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", which has been proven effective for the clinical treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the past decades. However, the active principles and molecular mechanisms involved in BXD against IBS are unknown yet.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To reveal multicomponent synergy mechanism of BXD on irritable bowel syndrome, we analysed important components, drug targets and crucial pathways using a systems pharmacology strategy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systems pharmacology approach was applied to unfold the potential mechanisms of BXD for irritable bowel syndrome, implicated in ADME screening and text mining, target identification, functional annotation, pathway enrichment analysis and network analysis. Subsequently, molecular docking validated the reliability of the interactions of chemical compounds and targets based on systems pharmacology.

RESULTS: The 35 important bioactive ingredients meeting the screening criteria from BXD were selected. Interaction networks of the 16 associated kernel targets with the ingredients were constructed and validated. Network analysis dissected the synergistic effects of the 27 crucial pathways, including inhibiting inflammatory reaction, maintaining intestinal function and improving psychological regulation.

CONCLUSIONS: The study presents the interpretation of the molecular mechanisms of BXD in the fight against IBS via multicomponent-target interaction networks. It also provides the promising drug targets and candidate compounds for the development of new combination medicines.