Imagine a treasure hunt where scientists search through the vast landscape of Chinese medicines to find a hidden gem for Alzheimer’s treatment. In this study, they set their sights on Fibraurea recisa Pierre (FRP), a Heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese medicine known for its potential health benefits. By using advanced techniques like network pharmacology and molecular docking, they uncovered 12 bioactive compounds in FRP that could potentially combat Alzheimer’s disease. These compounds were found to target 235 specific proteins involved in AD pathology, with AKT and other key targets taking the spotlight. Notably, alkaloids like palmatine and berberine were identified as crucial components of FRP for AD treatment. Through further analysis, researchers discovered that FRP acts on important signaling pathways like neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction and PI3K-Akt, which are crucial for mitigating AD symptoms. Ultimately, this study unveils a promising future for FRP as a multitarget therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, with the potential to advance the development of novel anti-AD drugs.

IntroductionHeat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese medicines have been documented to have anti-Alzheimer’s disease (AD) activities according to the accumulated clinical experience and pharmacological research results in recent decades. In this study, Fibraurea recisa Pierre (FRP), the classic type of Heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese medicine, was selected as the object of research.Methods12 components with anti-AD activities were identified in FRP by a variety of methods, including silica gel column chromatography, multiple databases, and literature searches. Then, network pharmacology and molecular docking were adopted to systematically study the potential anti-AD mechanism of these compounds. Consequently, it was found that these 12 compounds could act on 235 anti-AD targets, of which AKT and other targets were the core targets. Meanwhile, among these 235 targets, 71 targets were identified to be significantly correlated with the pathology of amyloid beta (Aβ) and Tau.Results and discussionIn view of the analysis results of the network of active ingredients and targets, it was observed that palmatine, berberine, and other alkaloids in FRP were the key active ingredients for the treatment of AD. Further, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis revealed that the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway were the most significant signaling pathways for FRP to play an anti-AD role. Findings in our study suggest that multiple primary active ingredients in FRP can play a multitarget anti-AD effect by regulating key physiological processes such as neurotransmitter transmission and anti-inflammation. Besides, key ingredients such as palmatine and berberine in FRP are expected to be excellent leading compounds of multitarget anti-AD drugs.

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