Integrated network pharmacology to investigate the mechanism of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge in the treatment of myocardial infarction

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge is a natural drug for treating myocardial infarction (MI). However, the targets and mechanisms of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge in the treatment of MI are yet to be elucidated. Traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) data were used to screen out chemical constituents, and UniProt was used to predict relevant targets. Disease targets were obtained from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and GeneCards databases. We used the STRING platform to build a protein–protein interaction network and used Cytoscape_v3.8.1 software to make a Drug–Ingredients–Gene Symbols–Disease network map. The Metascape database was used to perform gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses for drug–disease overlapping gene symbols. The targets identified by network pharmacology were further verified by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Seventy‐five active components of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge were obtained from the TCMSP database, while 370 disease targets and 29 cross‐targets were obtained from the Genecards database. The KEGG pathway enrichment results suggested that the mechanism of S. miltiorrhiza Bunge in the treatment of MI was significantly related to the VEGF signalling pathway. In vitro and in vivo experiments were used to evaluate the reliability of some important active ingredients and targets. S. miltiorrhiza Bunge alleviated the damage to cardiac function, attenuated myocardial fibrosis and protected endothelial cell function by increasing the expression of TGF‐β and VEGFA. S. miltiorrhiza Bunge showed the therapeutic effect of MI by promoting the expression of VEGFA signalling pathway, providing a reliable basis for exploring herbal treatment of MI.