Dual research on the quality and efficacy of antiviral oral liquid based on fingerprint techniques and chemometric analysis combined with network pharmacology

Antiviral oral liquid (AOL), which had antipyretic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory pharmacological effects, was currently used to treat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the mechanism of action was still unclear. Additionally, there had long been a lack of a comprehensive quality assessment and in vitro antioxidant activity study. The aim was to construct fingerprints of AOL and conduct the fingerprint-efficacy relationship study, as well as to investigate the mechanism of action of AOL in treating COVID-19. Firstly, four fingerprints of AOL were established using HPLC, GC, UV, and electrochemical analysis methods. Then, the quality consistency of AOL was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using the average linear quantitative fingerprint method and chemometric method. In addition, the fingerprint efficacy relationship between the fingerprint peaks of AOL and the antioxidant activity measured by DPPH was constructed using the OPLS model, while Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to explore the relationship between the fingerprint peaks and electrochemical analysis. Finally, network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to study AOL's potential active substances, targets, and mechanisms to treat COVID-19. The 22 samples were divided into different grades. AOL showed good antioxidant predictive power, providing a favorable direction for finding and predicting bioactive compounds and potential UV wavelengths. 100 compounds and 263 potential targets were identified, providing a theoretical basis for subsequent clinical studies. This paper investigated AOL in two dimensions of quality consistency and efficacy, providing a new way of thinking for other herbal compound preparations to achieve dual control of quality and effectiveness.