title: An analysis of chemical ingredients network of Chinese herbal formulae for the treatment of coronary heart disease.
abstract: As a complex system, the complicated interactions between chemical ingredients, as well as the potential rules of interactive associations among chemical ingredients of traditional Chinese herbal formulae are not yet fully understood by modern science. On the other hand, network analysis is emerging as a powerful approach focusing on processing complex interactive data. By employing network approach in selected Chinese herbal formulae for the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD), this article aims to construct and analyze chemical ingredients network of herbal formulae, and provide candidate herbs, chemical constituents, and ingredient groups for further investigation. As a result, chemical ingredients network composed of 1588 ingredients from 36 herbs used in 8 core formulae for the treatment of CHD was produced based on combination associations in herbal formulae. In this network, 9 communities with relative dense internal connections are significantly associated with 14 kinds of chemical structures with P<0.001. Moreover, chemical structural fingerprints of network communities were detected, while specific centralities of chemical ingredients indicating different levels of importance in the network were also measured. Finally, several distinct herbs, chemical ingredients, and ingredient groups with essential position in the network or high centrality value are recommended for further pharmacology study in the context of new drug development.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macao 999078, China.
authors: Fan
authors: F
authors: Ding
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macao 999078, China; Pharmacy School, Zunyi Medical University, No.201 Dalian Road, Zunyi 563003, China.
authors: Qianru
authors: Q
authors: Zhang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macao 999078, China.
authors: Carolina Oi Lam
authors: CO
authors: Ung
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macao 999078, China.
authors: Yitao
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
authors: Yifan
authors: Y
authors: Han
authors: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomás Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macao 999078, China.
authors: Yuanjia
authors: Y
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Complex Prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, 639 Longmian Avenue, Nanjing 211198, China.
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Qi
mesh_terms: D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal