Chaihu Shugan San, a traditional Chinese medicine, shows promising activity in treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by regulating liver lipid metabolism and mitigating inflammatory damage.
This study made use of network pharmacology to examine the potential effects of Chaihu Shugan San (CSS) against nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in mice. The disease was induced through a choline-deficient high-fat diet and treated with CSS. Online databases were used to identify potential targets in CSS and NASH, then functional enrichment and protein interaction analyses were carried out to pinpoint key genes and unravel the mechanisms at play. The relationships between active substances in CSS and key genes were assessed using molecular docking. This process was concluded by verifying these key genes through techniques such as real-time PCR, Western blotting and immunofluorescence.
In the findings, it was reported that CSS lowered certain enzyme levels in NASH mice and improved liver health, reducing degeneration. The analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry identified 12 peaks, including naringenin. Through network pharmacology analysis, a total of 103 active compounds and 877 target genes in CSS were identified, with the focus on transferase activity. The transcriptional levels and protein expression of the SIRT1 gene increased notably in NASH mice following CSS treatment, identifying naringenin as the probable active compound and SIRT1 as the pivotal gene in CSS's role in treating NASH.
