Mechanism of Qilongtian Capsules in the treatment of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension based upon UPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap-MS/MS and network pharmacology
OBJECTIVE To explore the mechanism of Qilongtian Capsules in treating hypoxic pulmonary hypertension(HPH)based upon blood components,network pharmacology and molecular docking.METHODS UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS/MS was utilized for systematic qualitative analysis of chemical components in plasma containing Qilongtian Cap-sules.The related targets of blood components and diseases were screened by PharmMapper,GeneCards and other databases and protein-protein interaction(PPI)was analyzed by String platform.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were conducted by the database of Metascape.AutoDock software was employed for validating molecular docking between major active components and key targets.RESULTS A total of 32 blood components,including 22 metabolites and 10 prototype components,were identified from rat plasma after a gavage of contents of Qilongtian Capsules.There were 120 components-disease targets and 10 key targets were screened out by PPI analysis.KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that Qilongtian Capsules might play a role in the treat-ment of HPH through PI3K-Akt,HIF-1,MAPK and other signaling pathways.CONCLUSION Blood components of Qilong-tian Capsules have been clarified.And network pharmacology implies that its mechanism of treating HPH may be correlated with the regulation of PI3K-Akt/HIF-1a signaling pathway.