Systems Biology and Chemoinformatics-Based Strategies to Explore the Biological Mechanism of Fugui Wenyang Decoction in Treating Vascular Dementia Rats

OBJECTIVE: To explore the biological mechanism of Fugui Wenyang Decoction (FGWYD) in treating vascular dementia (VD) rats based on systems pharmacology, proteomics, and a multidirectional pharmacology integration strategy. METHODS: Chemoinformatics was utilized to construct and analyze the FGWYD-VD protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Then, the total protein in the brain tissue of the infarcted side of the rat was extracted for protein identification, pattern identification, and protein quantitative analysis. The differentially expressed proteins are analyzed by bioinformatics. Finally, the important proteins in the oxidative stress-related biological process proteins and indicators were detected through experimental pharmacology to verify the findings of systems biology and chemoinformatics. RESULTS: There were a total of 73 FGWYD components with 245 FGWYD and 145 VD genes. The results of GO enrichment analysis and pathway enrichment analysis showed that MBHD may regulate the inflammation module, oxidative stress, the synaptic plasticity regulation module, and the neuronal apoptosis section module. Compared with the sham operation group, there were 23 upregulated proteins and 17 downregulated proteins in the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, there were 16 upregulated proteins and 10 downregulated proteins in the FGWYD group (P < 0.05). Bioinformatics analysis shows that those proteins were closely related to processes such as inflammation, oxidative stress, neuronal apoptosis, neuronal growth and differentiation, signaling pathways, and transcriptional regulation. Multidirectional pharmacology further verified the neuroprotective mechanism of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in FGWYD treatment of VD. CONCLUSION: The mechanism of FGWYD in the treatment of VD may be related to inflammation, oxidative stress, angiogenesis, and neuronal apoptosis.