Herb Pair Danggui-Baishao: Pharmacological Mechanisms Underlying Primary Dysmenorrhea by Network Pharmacology Approach

TLDR: A network pharmacology-based approach was adopted to provide new insights into the active compounds and therapeutic targets of Danggui-Baishao herb pair for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, finding that these targets were mainly involved in Steroid hormone biosynthesis, Arachidonic acid metabolism, serotonergic synapse and response to oxidative stress.

Abstract: Epidemiological studies have shown that primary dysmenorrhea is the most common disease in gynecology, and its incidence rate is between 20% and 90%, which is a common cause of affecting women’s normal work and quality of life. Its high incidence rate, wide spread and economic losses and social harm have caused widespread concern worldwide. The present work adopted a network pharmacology-based approach to provide new insights into the active compounds and therapeutic targets of Danggui-Baishao herb pair for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. Fifteen active compounds of the herb pair possessing favorable pharmacokinetic profiles and biological activities were selected, interacting 17 dysmenorrhea-related targets to provide potential synergistic therapeutic actions. Systematic analysis of the constructed networks revealed that these targets such as ABCB1, ESR1, PGR, AKR1C3, PTGS2, CYP2C8, PTGS1 were mainly involved in Steroid hormone biosynthesis, Arachidonic acid metabolism, serotonergic synapse and Ovarian steroidogenesis through steroid metabolic process, steroid hormone mediated signaling pathway, cyclooxygenase pathway, response to estradiol and response to oxidative stress.