Rapid characterization of the absorbed constituents in rat serum after oral administration and action mechanism of Naozhenning granule using LC-MS and network pharmacology

Naozhenning granule is a Chinese herbal formula, which is mainly used in the treatment of concussion, cerebral post-traumatic syndrome. Although its effectiveness has been certified in the clinical use, the mechanism of action and bioactive components of Naozhenning remain unknown. In this study, the ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry was applied to identify the absorbed constituents of Naozhenning in the rat serum. A total of 60 compounds, including 30 prototype components and 30 metabolites were identified. Then the absorbed constituents were subjected to the network pharmacology analysis. The compound-target-disease (CTD) and KEGG pathway analysis revealed that 40 absorbed constituents, 56 target genes and three key pathways such as RAS, PI3K/Akt, MAPK, TGF beta were probably related with the efficacy of Naozhenning against cerebral trauma and cerebral concussion. The results provided a scientific basis for understanding the bioactive compounds and the pharmacological mechanism of Naozhenning granule. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.