Exploring the Mechanism of Action of Illicium simonsii Maxim. in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases Based on Mass Spectrometry Coupling Technology and Network Pharmacology

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-829-5_24How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Neurodegenerative diseases; ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS)coupling technology; Illicium simonsii Maxim; Mechanism of action

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases are progressive neuronal degenerative diseases caused by multiple factors, with complex pathogenesis and limited existing treatment methods. Thus, exploring therapeutic drugs from traditional medicinal plants is crucial. Illicium simonsii Maxim., a traditional medicinal plant, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, but its mechanism of action in treating neurodegenerative diseases remains unclear and its active ingredients haven't been systematically analyzed. This study used ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS), an advanced coupling technology capable of separating and identifying compounds, to precisely analyze the chemical ingredients of Illicium simonsii Maxim. Extracts. Additionally, network pharmacology was applied to predict active compounds’ targets of Illicium simonsii Maxim., screen drug-disease intersection targets, construct Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) networks, perform pathway enrichment analysis and network topology analysis, etc. Experimental verification was also carried out by molecular docking technology. The research identified 40 components and predicted 480 potential targets, obtained 157 intersection targets and key targets. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed related biological processes and signal pathways. Validation via molecular docking indicated that the principal bioactive constituents of Illicium simonsii Maxim., namely apigenin, luteolin, and kaempferol, exhibited significant binding affinity toward the core targets PTGS2 and AKT1. In summary, this study reveals the potential mechanism of Illicium simonsii Maxim. in treating neurodegenerative diseases via multi-target and multi-pathway synergy, which is expected to contribute to drug development and the modernization of traditional herbal medicine.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xiaotong Xu
AU  - Xueping Liang
AU  - Ya Liu
AU  - Yijia Liu
AU  - Zijian Huang
AU  - Liying Wang
AU  - Wenzhong Hu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/08/28
TI  - Exploring the Mechanism of Action of Illicium simonsii Maxim. in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases Based on Mass Spectrometry Coupling Technology and Network Pharmacology
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Chemical Engineering and Biological Science (CEBS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 234
EP  - 246
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-829-5_24
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-829-5_24
ID  - Xu2025
ER  -