The Study On Two-Way Adjustment Mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma for Cardiovascular Diseases

Aim and objective: Myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction and other diseases caused by vascular obstruction have always jeopardized human life and health. More and more reports indicate that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma has a good clinical effect in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Owing to the complexity of herbal medicine, the pharmacodynamic mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma is still not clear. The objective of this study was to explore the two-way adjustment mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma and provided a new solution for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Materials and methods: Based on the systems pharmacology method and big data analysis technology, this study used data mining, reverse pharmacophore matching, network construction, GO and KEGG Analysis, and molecular docking to investigate the two-way adjustment mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma.

Results: The results suggest that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma plays a two-way adjustment of activating blood circulation as well as blood coagulation in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The components involved in activating blood circulation were mainly Anthraquinones components. The corresponding targets were NOS2, NOS3, CALM1, and the corresponding pathways were Calcium signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, Platelet activation, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. For blood coagulation, the components were mainly Tannins components, the corresponding targets were F2, F10, ELANE, and the corresponding pathways were Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Complement and coagulation cascades.

Conclusion: Through this study, it was indicated that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma exerts the two-way adjustment of activating blood circulation and blood coagulation in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. And it can make up for the existing blood circulation drugs for cardiovascular disease, only blood circulation is used, and the side effects of uncontrollable large-area bleeding because of the long-term use of the drugs. This study provides a material basis for the development of new blood-activating drugs based on natural medicines.

Keywords: Rhei Radix et Rhizoma; activating blood circulation and bloodcoagulation; cardiovascular disease; molecular docking; systems pharmacology; two-way adjustment mechanism.