Exploring the Pharmacological Mechanism of Bezoar on Cerebral Ischemic Stroke using a Network Pharmacology Approach

Background Ischemic stroke is a common clinical disease limited by its time window for treatment. In addition to its high mortality rate, only a single treatment currently exists for ischemic stroke. Nonetheless, Traditional Chinese medicine is often employed as a treatment for the disease. Bezoar is a multi-functional drug that has been proven effective for the treatment of ischemic stroke. However, its mechanism of action is yet to be fully elucidated. Based on network pharmacology, we explored the potential mechanism of action of bezoar. Methods Symmap was employed to obtain the target of bezoar as well as literature data mining methods. Results The mechanism employed by bezoar for the treatment of ischemic stroke was identified and ischemic stroke-related targets were retrieved using DrugBank, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and Therapeutic Target Database. Protein-protein interaction networks were constructed through the Cytoscape plugin, BisoGenet, and analysed by topological methods. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment were carried out via the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery server. We obtained 48 potential targets and 3 signalling pathways, including mitogen-activated protein kinase, hypoxia-inducible factor-1, and the TNF signalling pathway. Conclusions In summary, the mechanism of action of bezoar on ischemic stroke involves multiple targets and signalling pathways. Our research provides a network pharmacology framework for future Chinese medicinal research.