Fufang E’jiao Jiang (FEJ) as a healthy food consisting of medicine food homology materials approved by China’s Ministry of Health has been extensively applied to replenish qi and nourish blood, and it has a positive impact on women’s health. To find out the material basis and mechanism of FEJ, a systematic “compound-effect-target” analysis including chemical composition resolution, zebrafish, network pharmacology, molecular docking, transcriptome, and bibliometric analysis was adopted. 124 chemical components including ginsenosides, and phenylethanoid glycosides in FEJ were discovered, and effects of FEJ on promoting the generation of immune cells, erythropoiesis and angiogenesis in zebrafish were exhibited. Based on network pharmacology, molecular docking and in vivo activity assay, 6 compounds including jionoside A1, isoacteoside, echinacoside, acteoside, lobetyolin, and rehmannioside D were identified as active components of FEJ. Transcriptome data showed that several pathways such as complement and coagulation cascades, ECM-receptor interaction, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway were associated with proangiogenic effect of FEJ. 19 common targets were obtained through combined analysis of network pharmacology and transcriptomics, and 5 targets of them were verified by PCR. The bibliometric analysis of these common targets revealed that FEJ was related to energy metabolism, pathway in cancer, etc., which was consistent with the results of network pharmacology and transcriptome. The studies suggested that FEJ could replenish qi and nourish blood through multi-compound and multi-targets.

Thymus quinquecostatus Celak., a traditional aromatic edible plant from Lamiaceae, is widely used as food additive, food condiment, spice, and herbal teas. Its polyphenol-rich fraction (PRF) has been proven to be effective protective effect for cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIRI) in our previous study. In this study, we developed a novel “Gut flora-Compound-Target-Pathway” (GCTP) network based on network pharmacology coupled with gastrointestinal metabolism for screening bio-active components, key targets and gut floras through the classical technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. This compensates for the lack of gut floras and gastrointestinal metabolism in network pharmacology. Firstly, four incubation models covering simulated gastric juice, simulated intestinal juice, gut floras of normal and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) rat in vitro were applied to PRF. The 109 proto-components and 64 metabolites were elucidated by UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MSⁿ. Then, the key targets of MMP9, PTGS2, FYN, ESR1, APP, and EGFR, and gut floras of Enterococcus avium LY1 were selected. Moreover, the selected key proto-components were rosmarinic acid, daidzein, quercetin, luteolin, apigenin, methyl rosmarinate, kaempferol, luteoloside, and caffeic acid, and the key metabolites were isokaempferide, isorhamnetin, isoquercetin, and mangiferin. Binding of compounds to the key proteins was analyzed by molecular docking, and also verified though a AAPH induced oxidative stress zebrafish model and qRT-PCR assays. This study provides a new idea and a better understanding of PRF for its protective effects on CIRI and its underlying mechanisms.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the major liver disease burden among the world, and one of the most significant pathogenesis is lipid peroxidation (LPO), which has been shown to participate in a wide range of diseases. This study aimed to determine the status, research hotspots, and development trend of research on LPO in ALD. Based on the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, the publication and quality of the article, cooperative network, citation, and keyword analysis were described by bibliometric analysis. The number of studies on LPO in ALD fluctuated over time. The largest number of articles was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology. China and USA were the two most published countries, with Zhi-Yun Chen (China) and Petersen DR (USA) being the most prolific researchers. Current research mainly includes the key products and pathway targets in diseases, as well as the exploration of drugs, including traditional chemical and natural drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in preventing and treating ALD. For example, Panax Notoginseng has attracted wide attention from researchers. Among these, the role of 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in the development of ALD, the relationship between intestinal flora and ALD, and functional foods with antioxidant effects are of great interest. The beneficial effects and targeted therapy of homologous drugs and functional foods in the treatment of ALD should be the trend of future research. This study provides an objective description of LPO in ALD and guidance for future scientific research.