| Abstract:Objective: To investigate the pharmacological substances and mechanisms underlying the hepatoprotective effects of Forsythia suspensa using HPLC fingerprint and network pharmacology. Methods: HPLC fingerprints were established for 28 batches of F. suspensa, and characteristic peaks were identified using reference materials. Further evaluation was conducted by combining similarity analysis, cluster analysis, and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to screen for pharmacologically relevant substances, followed by network pharmacology analysis. Component-related targets were retrieved from the SwissTargetPrediction database, while liver injury-related targets were obtained from the OMIM, GeneCards, and DrugBank databases. Intersection targets between the components and the disease were selected, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the STRING database, followed by topological parameter analysis. Cytoscape 3.8.2 was used to construct a "component-disease-target" network diagram, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed on the intersection targets using the Metascape website. Results: The similarity of the HPLC fingerprints of F. suspensa was greater than 0.90. Through cluster analysis, the 28 batches of samples were grouped into three categories. The results of PLS-DA were consistent with those of the cluster analysis. Based on comparison with reference materials and comprehensive analysis, forsythoside E, pinoresinol diglucoside, forsythoside A, isoquercitrin, and phillyrin were identified as pharmacologically relevant substances. These substances may exert their effects by regulating core targets such as HRAS, PTGS2, MCL1, IL2, and HSP90AA1, as well as key signaling pathways including the IL-17 signaling pathway, arachidonic acid metabolism signaling pathway, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Conclusion: By combining HPLC fingerprint and network pharmacology, this study explored the pharmacological substances and mechanisms associated with the hepatoprotective effects of F. suspensa, providing a reference for quality control, variety selection, and clinical research on F. suspensa. |
