A metabonomics and lipidomics based network pharmacology study of qi-tonifying effects of honey-processed Astragalus on spleen qi deficiency rats

Honey-processed Astragalus is a dosage form of radix Astragali processed with honey, which is deemed to contain better qi-tonifying effects in traditional Chinese medicine theroy. Our previous study has demonstrated that honey-processed Astragalus exhibited a better effect on reinforcing qi (vital energy) and immune improvement toward spleen qi deficiency compared with radix Astragali. However, the detailed mechanisms related to qi-tonifying effects of honey-processed Astragalus is still unclear. In this study, we evaluated the qi-tonifying effects of honey-processed Astragalus on spleen qi deficiency rats and predicted the mechanisms by aggregating metabonomics, lipidomics and network pharmacology. The results revealed that body weights, symptom scores, the levels of red blood cell, white blood cell, lymphocyte, spleen and thymus indexes, and three cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IFN-γ) in honey-processed Astragalus treated rats were improved in comparison with spleen qi deficiency rats. In parallel, based on the 26 biomarkers screened in metabonomics and lipidomics, we inferred that glycerophospholipid metabolism significantly regulated in pathway analysis was connected with qi-tonifying effects. Moreover, the network pharmacology analysis concluded that the compounds targets of honey-processed Astragalus CDK2, NOS3, MAPK14, PTGS1 and PTGS2 interacted with markers targets PLA2G(s) family and LYPLA1 could be responsible for regulation of glycerophospholipid metabolism to develop qi-tonifying effects. What's more, the above processes were possibly through VEGF signaling and MAPK signaling pathways.