Abstract: Objective To predict the active chemical constituents and action targets, and to reveal the molecular mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect of Astragali Complanati Semen by network pharmacology. Methods All chemical constituents of Astragali Complanati Semen were searched by TCMSP, TDT and TCMID databases. ADME parameters(OB≥30% and DL≥0.15)were used as the screening criteria to screen the active chemical constituents of Astragali Complanati Seme. Then the correlative targets were found by traditional Chinese medicine target database, TCMSP database and BATMAN-TCM database, and the target data set was established. The complex network diagram of “component-target-disease” was constructed by Cytoscape 3.6.1 software, and the protein protein interaction(PPI)network between the target of Astragali Complanati Semen and the target of inflammation was constructed by PPI analysis-STRING database. The functional enrichment analysis of gene ontology(GO)and the pathway enrichment analysis based 山 东 大 学 学 报 (医 学 版)57卷9期 -高源,等.基于网络药理学预测沙苑子的抗炎作用机制 \=-on Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG)were carried out by biological information annotation database DAVID. The potential targets associated with inflammation of Astragali Complanati Semen were introduced into KEGG Pathway database to verify the anti-inflammatory mechanism of Astragali Complanati Semen. Results A total of 41 compounds were searched, of which 11 compounds such as kaempferid, formononetin and calycosin-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside were active. A total of 414 action targets were retrieved, of which 50 potential targets were screened out through network topology evaluation, which were most closely related to the anti-inflammatory mechanism of Astragali Complanati Semen. Totally, 261 biological processes and 80 signaling pathways were selected to participate in the anti-inflammatory effect of Astragali Complanati Semen. The signaling pathways most closely related to the anti-inflammatory role of Astragali Complanati Semen included positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase Ⅱ promoter, inflammatory response, positive regulation of I-κB kinase/NF-κB signaling, positive regulation of NF-κB transcription factor activity, cell response to lipopolysaccharide, regulation of cell proliferation and TRIF-dependent Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, etc. At the same time, the main biological processes included TNF signaling pathway, apoptosis, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway and so on. Conclusion A total of 11 active chemical components, 50 potential targets and related signaling pathways were predicted by the network pharmacology, which exhibited multi-component, multi-target, and multi-channel anti-inflammatory biological effects.

Key words: Astragali Complanati Semen, Active components, Anti-inflammatory, Network pharmacology, Mechanism of action