Exploration of the mechanism of action of the Tibetan medicine Artemisia sieversiana in the treatment of Zhenbu disease based on UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS and bioinformatics technique
BAI Macuo
DEJI Zhuoma
GAZANG Dongzhi
JIU Zhong
SHENGBA Jiangcai
REZENG Caidan
WENCHENG Dangzhi
Abstract：Objective To study the potential mechanism of action of Artemisia sieversiana,the main substrate of the Tibetan medicine Kamba,in the treatment of Zhenbu disease in Tibetan medicine.Methods The crude powder of the Tibetan medicine Artemisia sieversiana was extracted by distilled water extraction combined with methanol,and qualitatively identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS).The identified compounds were screened for key components and their compound targets using SwissTargetPrediction and other databases,and the KEGG pathway database was utilized to obtain the targets of Zhenbu disease.The intersection targets of the two was verified by molecular docking using AutoDock and other software.Results Among the 249 compounds identified by UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS,79 key components were obtained by-6 cm/s≤skin permeability coefficient(Log Kp)≤-2 cm/s.There were 15 intersection targets among 905 compound targets and 95 targets of the Zhenbu disease pathway.In molecular docking,matrix metalloproteinase 3(MMP3)had strong binding properties with key components such as diosmetin,apigenin,eupatilin,jatrorrhizine,and palmatine,and the binding energies were all ≤-33.5 kJ/mol.Conclusion The Tibetan medicine Artemisia sieversiana has become a common external treatment for Zhenbu disease in Tibetan medicine because of its good therapeutic effect,and it mainly treats Zhenbu disease through the pathway of"yellow water-joints",whose mechanism involves anti-inflammation,immune regulation,vascular inhibition,matrix protection and osteoclastic regulation,etc.It can inhibit MMP3 activity and regulate the pathology of cold-heat type yellow water,which verifies the theory of Tibetan medicine of"eliminating yellow water and facilitating joints"at the molecular level,and provides a scientific basis for the theory of yellow water pathology in the"Four Medical Classics".
Keywords：Tibetan medicinefive-flavored manna bathArtemisia sieversianaZhenbu diseaseUPLC-Q-Orbitrap MSnetwork pharmacologymolecular dockingmechanism of action
Publication Date：2026-07-31
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：9( 1017-1025 )