Mechanism analysis of Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanxiong in the treatment of ischemic stroke
ZHANG Tingting
WU Xinyu
YOU Wenzhuo
LI Jingyi
LI Chunlei
JIANG Xicheng
Abstract：Objective To explore the potential mechanism of the Chinese herbal pair Danggui(Angelica sinensis Radix)-Chuanxiong(Ligusticum chuanxiong)in treatment of ischemic stroke(IS)based on network pharmacology and to provide theoretical basis for its clinical application.Methods The active ingredients of the Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanxiong and their corresponding target genes were screened using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacol-ogy Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP).The target genes were standardized via the UniProt database.Disease-relat-ed target genes for IS were retrieved from the GeneCards,OMIM,and CTD databases.The intersection of the drug target genes and the disease target genes was obtained as the potential therapeutic targets of the Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Ch-uanxiong for IS.A protein-protein interaction(PPI)network and a drug-compound-intersection target-disease network were constructed based on the intersection target genes.The core target genes and the main active ingredients of the Chi-nese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanxiong for the treatment of IS were screened using these networks.Subsequently,Gene On-tology(GO)functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the core target genes.Finally,molecular docking was employed to validate the binding affinity between the main active ingredients and the core target genes.Results A total of 8 active ingredients of the Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanxiong,66 related target genes were identified,and 10,458 disease-related target genes for IS were ob-tained.The intersection revealed 55 overlapping target genes.Topological analysis of the PPI network identified core tar-get genes such as the c-Jun proto-oncogene(JUN),heat shock protein 90β(HSP90AB1),Caspase-3(CASP3),B-cell lymphoma 2(BCL2),and estrogen receptor 1(ESR1).Analysis of the drug-compound-intersection target-disease network screened out main active ingredients including β-sitosterol,myricetin,stigmasterol,senkyunolide,and ligustrazine.The GO enrichment analysis results showed that the core target genes were primarily involved in biological processes such as the regulation of neuronal apoptosis,modulation of postsynaptic membrane potential,and the nuclear receptor-mediated steroid hormone signaling pathway.The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis results indicated that the core target genes were significantly enriched in pathways such as neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction,and lipid and atherosclerosis.The molecular docking results demonstrated that the main active ingredients of the Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanx-iong exhibited good binding affinities with the core target genes in the treatment of IS,with calculated binding energies all below-5.0 kcal/mol.Conclusions The Chinese herbal pair Danggui-Chuanxiong may exert multi-target and multi-pathway neuroprotective effects by utilizing various active ingredients such as β-sitosterol,myricetin,and stigmasterol to act on key targets including JUN,HSP90AB1,and CASP3.This synergistic action regulates related signaling pathways involving neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions,lipid metabolism,oxidative stress,inflammatory response,and neuro-nal apoptosis.
Keywords：Chinese herbal pairDanggui(Angelica sinensis Radix)Chuanxiong(Ligusticum chuanxiong)isch-emic strokenetwork pharmacologymolecular docking
Publication Date：2026-02-25
Online Publishing Date：2026-03-19(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 39-43 )