Elucidation of the active ingredients of Lamiophlomis herba against hemorrhage based on network pharmacology and tail snipping model in mice

This study aimed to elucidate the active ingredients of Lamiophlomis herba (LH), the overground part of Lamiophlomis rotata (Benth.) Kudo, against hemorrhage based on network pharmacology and tail snipping model in mice. A total of 118 hemorrhage-related target genes were identified by retrieving public databases, and 39 genes were identified as the hub genes of hemorrhage based on protein-protein interaction and module analyses. The interactions between 67 potentially active ingredients in LH and 7 genes in the 39 hub genes were established and analyzed through molecular docking and Cytoscape. A total of 21 ingredients were involved in the interactions, and were divided into three categories: iridoid (15 ingredients), flavonoid (2 ingredients) and other category (4 ingredients). Based on the "multi-ingredient, multi-target" characteristic of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), the results of network pharmacology indicated that iridoid might be the key active ingredient group of LH against hemorrhage. The contribution of iridoid to the hemostatic effect of LH was investigated by the tail snipping model in mice. The results showed that iridoid was the key active ingredient group of LH against hemorrhage, which confirmed the prediction in network pharmacology. Additionally, the previous reports also supported this prediction. In conclusion, the finding of the present study indicates that iridoid is the key hemostatic ingredient group of LH. This work provides valuable references for investigation of the hemostatic ingredients of LH based on the holistic theory of TCMs. Meanwhile, this work also provides further insight into the development of hemostatic drugs based on LH.