Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Mechanism of pharmacological effect of Angelica essential oil on anxiety based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

Xiaoli Liu¹, Xiaofei Zhang^2,3, Fang Wang², Jie Xu², Ming Yang^1,3

¹School of Pharmacy, State Key Laboratory of Southwestern Chinese Medicine Resources, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province 611137; ²Pharmacy College, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province 712046; ³Key Laboratory of Modern preparation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang City, Jiangxi 330000, China.

For correspondence:- Ming Yang Email: Mingyang26@126.com Tel:+8679187118658

Accepted: 20 March 2021 Published: 30 April 2021

Citation: Liu X, Zhang X, Wang F, Xu J, Yang M. Mechanism of pharmacological effect of Angelica essential oil on anxiety based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(4):789-796 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i4.19

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the pharmacological effect of Angelica essential oil (AEO) on anxiety disorder and the mechanism of action involved, using network pharmacology and molecular docking.

Method: Chemical compositions of AEO were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The potential targets involved in the effect of AEO on anxiety were predicted by searching Bioinformatics databases. Cytoscape software was applied for networks construction. Analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway was done via R Programming Language, while molecular docking analysis was conducted by Autodock vina software.

Results: Network analysis showed that there were 10 bioactive components and 34 potential targets. The potential targets were distributed in cerebellar cortex, basic ganglia, hippocampal formation, amygdala, pons and medulla and liver. AEO was involved in multiple biological processes (BP), cell components (CC) and molecular functions (MF) associated with anxiety disorder. Molecular docking revealed good binding affinity between the major bioactive components and targets.

Conclusion: This study has revealed the pharmacological mechanism involved in the effect of AEO on anxiety, through network pharmacology and molecular docking. The pharmacological mechanism provides a firm theoretical basis for further studies in this area of research.

Keywords: Angelica Essential oil, Anxiety, Network pharmacology, Molecular Docking, Pharmacological