Study on molecular mechanism of Leonurus japonicas Houtt.in preventing and controlling postpartum inflammatory diseases in female livestock based on network pharmacology

LIAO Lingling; XUAN Zeyi; CHEN Shaomei; CAO Yanhong; XI Yulian; XIE Hengsheng; HUANG Huanchang; HU Xiangyun

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2025.05.014

Abstract：The study aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.in preventing and controlling postpartum inflammatory diseases in female livestock using network pharmacology.Using Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP)to screen active ingredients and potential targets of Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.,then mastitis,endometritis and vaginitis targets were obtained by GeneCards and OMIM databases.A protein-protein interaction(PPI)network was constructed using the STRING platform,and GO functional enrichment and KEGG enrichment analysis were carried out with DAVID database.Animal experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.on immune indicators in sows.The results showed that Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.contains 10 active components,involving 223 targets,with 1 023 intersection targets related to postpartum inflammatory diseases in livestock.GO enrichment analysis revealed 325 biological process entries,including positive regulation of plasma cell differentiation and B cell apoptosis,26 cellular component entries,including the extracellular region,chromatin,and membrane raft,and 75 molecular function entries,including cytokine activity and protein dimerization activity.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified 175 signaling pathways,including cancer,AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications,tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway,interleukin-17(IL-17)pathway,mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)signaling pathway,and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-serine/threonine kinase(PI3K-Akt)signaling pathway,all of which are related to inflammation.Animal experiments demonstrated that the addition of Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.powder significantly reduced the levels of interleukin-2(IL-2),interleukin-2(IL-6),and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in sow serum(P<0.05),and significantly increased the levels of immunoglobulin(IgA)and immunoglobulin(IgG)(P<0.05).The study indicates that Leonurus j aponicas Houtt.can prevent and control postpartum inflammatory diseases in livestock through active components such as quercetin,kaempferol,arachidonic acid,isorhamnetin,leonurine,and stachydrine,acting on targets such as tumor protein P53(TP53),TNF,IL-6,mitogen-activated protein kinase 14(MAPK14),and caspase-3(CASP3)via inflammation-related signaling pathways.