Study on the material basis and mechanism of anti-insomnia mechanism of Ning Shen Essential Oil based on 1H NMR metabolomics and network pharmacology
This paper applied gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS),network pharmacology and nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectroscopy(1H NMR)metabolomics techniques to study the material basis and mechanism of action of Ning Shen Essential Oil in anti-insomnia.The main volatile components of Ning Shen Essential Oil were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS),and the insomnia-related targets were predicted using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systematic Pharmacology Database and Analytical Platform(TCMSP)and the databases of GeneCards,OMIM and Drugbank.The insomnia model of rats was replicated by intraperitoneal injection of 4-chloro-DL-phenylalanine(PCPA).Animal experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine(Ethics No.:SDUTCM20221025010).The modulating effect of Compound Ning Shen Essential Oil on anxiety behavior of rats was evaluated by behavioral related indexes.The serum levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone(CRH),adrenotropic corticotropic hormone(ACTH)and melatonin(MT)were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay(ELISA).Rat serum and hippocampus were taken for nuclear magnetic resonance(1H NMR)metabolomics to detect the changes of endogenous metabolites in rat serum hippocampus,to designate the differential metabolites and to construct metabolic pathways.The results showed that the exercise distance in the open field experiment and the number of times and time to enter the open arm in the elevated cross maze experiment of the rats in the model group were significantly reduced(P<0.05,P<0.01).The behavioral indexes of rats improved to different degrees after the administration of Ning Shen Essential Oil.The serum CRH and ACTH levels of rats in the model group increased significantly(P<0.05,P<0.01),and the MT level decreased significantly(P<0.01);After the intervention,serum CRH and ACTH levels were reduced to different degrees,and MT levels could be regressed.1H NMR metabolomics screened 10 potential biomarkers related to insomnia,which involved in 6 potential metabolic pathways.A total of 35 components of Ning Shen Essential Oil were detected by GC-MS,the main component targets of Ning Shen Essential Oil and insomnia disease targets were intersected,a total of 172 intersecting genes were screened,and 26 core targets were identified.The study demonstrated that Ning Shen Essential Oil had protective effects against PCPA-induced insomnia in rats,which was probably correlated with regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis(HPA)related hormones and metabolism of amino acids,lipids and choline.
Ning Shen Essential Oilinsomniaopen field experimentelevated cross mazeNMRmetabolo-micsnetwork pharmacology