Study on effective substance in six kinds of Chinese herbal medicines containing phenylpropanoids and multi-target therapeutic mechanisms for treatment of hyperuricemia through in silico and in vitro experiments

Hyperuricemia is an increasingly serious metabolic disease. However, xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOIs) can fundamentally solve the problem of uric acid overproduction. In this paper, through virtual screening and network pharmacology, 73 potential compounds are discovered from six Chinese herbal medicines containing phenylpropanoids. These compounds treat hyperuricemia through crucial targets XDH, IL6, TLR4, HIF1A, HSP90AA1 and MMP2 synergistic effect. Further assay activities of inhibitory xanthine oxidase and antioxidant discover that taxifolin, morin and ellagic acid are deserved further study as the most promising anti-hyperuricemia multi-target XOIs candidates. Therefore, this study provides certain theoretical foundation for exploring effective treatment of hyperuricemia.