Cardioprotection of Eucommiae Folium: the extract and pharmaceutically active compounds attenuate hyperglycemia, mitochondrial dysfunction, calcium dyshomeostasis, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress in diabetic cardiomyopathy db/db mice

Abstract Objectives A biolabel research based on multi-omics, informatics, molecular docking, and experimental verification was used to investigate the cardioprotective effect and pharmaceutically active compounds of Eucommiae Folium (EF). Key findings Based on the biolabel research pattern, metabonomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics indicated that EF has a therapeutic potential for a variety of heart diseases, especially cardiomyopathy, and the most critical mechanism involved is the diabetic cardiomyopathy pathway. Bioinformatics, cheminformatics, and molecular docking showed that 24 EF compounds may play a therapeutic role in diabetic cardiomyopathy via this pathway. Among which, four compounds (kaempferol, esculetin, (+)-catechin, and astragalin) showed appropriate pharmacokinetic parameters and formed stable binding with biolabels in the pathway. In diabetic cardiomyopathy db/db mice, histopathological analysis, mitochondrial swelling and membrane potential assay, ELISA, and biochemical analysis demonstrated that EF and four active compounds had obvious hypoglycemic effects and attenuated myocardial damage and related pathological processes, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, calcium dyshomeostasis, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. Conclusions This study provides new evidence and insights into the effect, mechanism, and material basis of EF in treating diabetic cardiomyopathy.