In Vivo and Network Pharmacological Studies of Natural Bear Bile Powder Against Hyperlipidemia

Abstract

Natural bear bile powder (NBBP), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been clinically used to treat liver dysfunction, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Recently it has been proved that NBBP has a good effect on regulating lipid disorders. However, the active ingredients and the anti‐hyperlipidemic effects are unclear. The high‐fat diet (HFD) induced hyperlipidemic model rats were treated with NBBP for 4 weeks and were examined for, lipid profile, liver function parameters, hepatic antioxidant status and histopathology of liver, epididymal adipose tissues. The NBBP treatment effectively improved serum lipid levels and normalized antioxidant status. A total of 16 constituents of NBBP were charactered via UHPLC‐Q‐TOF‐HRMS. We screened eight potentially active compounds and corresponded to 75 anti‐hyperlipidemic target proteins. PPI analysis showed that ALB, TNF, EGFE, PPARG, and PPARA are core proteins. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that NBBP might treat hyperlipidemia (HLP) by regulating a series of signaling pathways involving immune system, inflammatory response, and metabolism. Molecular docking revealed that gene had high affinities to NBBP compounds. In conclusion, UHPLC‐Q‐TOF‐HRMS analysis, network pharmacology, and in vivo experiments in this study provided essential references for revealing the potential mechanism of NBBP in the prevention and treatment of HLP.