Exploring the therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms of Tibetan medicine Xiaoboyuganzi decoction on type 2 diabetes mellitus via network pharmacology
TIAN Mei-gui
ZONG Yi
PENG Jia-yan
HUANG Xue-mei
XIONG Shuang-feng
ZHANG Jing
FAN Gang
Abstract：Objective:To investigate the potential active ingredients and mechanism of action of Xiaobo Yuganzi Ddecoction in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods:UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS was employed to characterize the chemical constituents of Xiaobo Yuganzi Decoction.Potential targets of these chemical constituents and known T2DM-related targets were retrieved from public databases,and their overlapping targets were identified.A protein-protein interaction network was constructed to screen for core targets,followed by gene ontology(GO)and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analysis.Cytoscape 3.9.1 software was utilized to construct a'drug-constituent-target-pathway'network,and molecular docking was performed between chemical constituents and key targets to screen for potential active ingredients.Western blotting was employed to investigate the effects of Xiaobo Yuganzi Decoction on the expression levels of proteins related to the PI3K/AKT pathway in HepG2 cells.Results:A total of 39 chemical constituents were identified in Xiaobo Yuganzi Decoction,and 443 intersecting targets were obtained.These targets were primarily involved in biological processes such as protein phosphorylation.Molecular docking results indicated that jatrorrhizine,berberine,ellagic acid,bufotenidine,bufotenine,and palmatine exhibited good binding affinities to key protein receptors.Compared with the model group,Xiaobo Yuganzi Decoction significantly upregulated the expression of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT proteins in HepG2 cells(P<0.05),consistent with the predictions from network pharmacology.Conclusion:Potential active ingredients in Xiaobo Yuganzi Decoction,such as jatrorrhizine and ellagic acid,may target core proteins including SRC,HSP90AA1,and STAT3,thereby modulating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway to exert therapeutic effects on T2DM.
Keywords：Xiaoboyuganzi decoctiontype 2 diabetes mellitusUPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MSnetwork pharmacologymechanism
Publication Date：2026-04-15
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 741-748 )