Anti-depression mechanism of supercritical CO₂ extract from Compound Chaigui Fang based on network pharmacology

The study was designed to clarify the antidepressant mechanism of supercritical CO₂ extract from Compound Chaigui Fang. We used TCMSP, HIT, Pharm GKB and Gene Cards bioinformatics software to predict and analyze the drug/disease targets and their common targets of compounds in the supercritical CO₂ extract of Compound Chaigui Fang for depression. Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) was used to induce depressed model in rats. Hippocampus and serum were collected after supercritical CO₂ extract treatment to detect the potential antidepressant targets with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results predicate that there are 22 chemical compounds and 78 potential therapeutic drug targets for depression. There are 177 disease markers for depression, and 14 common targets for drug intervention of depression, which includes the neurotransmitter transports/metabolic enzyme/receptors, hormone of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal/thyroid/gonad axis, immune-associated factor, etc. ELISA results suggest that depression is associated with the low level of phosphate cAMP responsive element-binding protein in hippocampus and the high levels of corticosterone and interleukin 6 in serum with CUMS rat. Those were restored to normal levels by supercritical CO₂ extract of Compound Chaigui Fang. The study provides an antidepressant mechanism of supercritical CO₂ extract of Compound Chaigui Fang based on the network pharmacology, and a new strategy in the study of the effective extracts of compound Chinese traditional medicine.