The protective effects of Panax notoginseng in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease:in silico and in vivo studies

Background:Panax notoginseng(PNE)is a prominent traditional Chinese medicine with extensive beneficial effects on the immune system.However,the precise mechanism of PNE in treating inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)remains unclear.Methods:We first used an extensive metabolomics approach utilizing UPLC-ESI-Q TRAP-MS/MS to identify the metabolite components of PNE aqueous extract.Moreover,the mechanism of PNE in treating IBD was investigated through in silico analysis including RNA-seq analysis,Network pharmacology and Molecular docking.Then a Drosophila toxin-induced intestinal inflammation model was employed to investigate further.Results:A total of 1,543 metabolites of PNE aqueous extract were characterized using UPLC-ESI-Q TRAP-MS/MS.In silico analyses showed that 97 IBD hub targets were targeted by 21 PNE ingredients.Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes results indicated that PNE may play an anti-IBD role through the Mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)signaling pathway and other immune-related signaling pathways.Moreover,11 top hits compounds of PNE show a good affinity binding to IBD targets.The experimental results demonstrated that PNE can effectively improve the survival rate of adult Drosophila while also inhibit the excessive proliferation and differentiation of intestinal stem cells induced by sodium dodecyl sulfate.Furthermore,PNE notably lower the epithelial cell mortality,the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and the activation of oxidative stress-associated jun-Nterminal kinase(JNK)pathway.Conclusion:Our data suggests that PNE aqueous extract has a significant protective impact on the intestinal homeostasis of Drosophila.These findings establish a basis for utilizing PNE in clinical investigations and managing IBD.