Abstract

Based on the theory of “Brain Xuan-fu Blood-Brain Barrier”, we use network pharmacology to study the potential mechanism of wind medicine to regulate the blood-brain barrier. The effective components of six wind medicines were screened using the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform and relevant targets were identified through this database; potential targets related to blood-brain barrier function were obtained through the GeneCards database; the “drug-component-target-blood-brain barrier” network map was constructed using Cytoscape software. The search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes/proteins database was used to construct a protein-protein interaction network map of target protein interactions and to screen the core targets using Cytoscape software; the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery database was used to perform gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes enrichment analysis of the core targets at the drug-disease intersection; Vina was used for molecular docking. Six wind drugs with 43 effective components and 255 potential targets were screened, with a total of 217 targets where the drug intersected with the blood-brain barrier and 68 core targets. The top 20 biological processes obtained were related to pathways such as positive regulation of ribonucleic acid polymerase II promoter transcription, positive regulation of transcription, negative regulation of the apoptotic process, inflammatory response, lipopolysaccharide-mediated signaling pathway and cellular response to hypoxia. The top 20 pathways obtained involved cancer pathways, tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway, T cell receptor signaling pathway, nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 signaling pathway, toll-like receptor signaling pathway, etc. The molecular docking results showed that the main effective components bind well to the core targets. The mechanism of action of wind medicine is probably through the mechanism of anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis to act on the blood-brain barrier, which is of great significance in the treatment of encephalopathy.