Potential synergistic effects of Chinese herbal prescription FTZ components detected in blood towards hepatic lipid-modulating targets

Summary Objective Our goal in this study aims to explain the polypharmacological mechanism at the molecular level responsible for the effectiveness of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription FTZ to treat hyperlipidemia and related disease. Design By MDL ® ISIS_Base 2.5, we constructed a compound database based on the FTZ constituents, which were detected in the rat serum after oral administration of the TCM through ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadruple-time-of-flight mass-spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS) method. After validation of the virtual docking system, we used molecular screening by LigandFit which is a computational method for the shape-directed rapid docking of ligands to target protein active sites, to investigate the interactions between the components in database and lipid-modulating targets in the liver. Results In the prescription FTZ ingredients, there were sixteen constituents including jatrorrhizine, etc. showed potential effects towards the hyperlipidemia-related targets: HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR), squalene synthase (SQS), oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC), cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), liver X receptor (LXR), farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR α and PPAR γ ). Among the eight herbs in prescription FTZ, Rhizoma Coptidis (RC) plays the most important role in whole effect from FTZ on hyperlipidemia related disease. Conclusions Our research demonstrated that Chinese medicine formula FTZ has multi-target synergistic effect on hyperlipidemia and suggests the pharmacodynamic material basis could be jatrorrhizine, berberrubine, berberine and salidroside.