ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1544550
This article is part of the Research TopicInsights in Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery: 2024View all 19 articles
Exploring the mechanism of action of Sophora moorcroftiana seeds on Pneumonia based on Network pharmacology, Molecular docking, and experimental verification
Provisionally accepted
- Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
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Background: Pneumonia, a prevalent respiratory affliction often precipitated by bacterial and viral pathogens, poses a significant threat to animal health. The seeds of Sophora moorcroftiana, renowned for their antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and bacteriostatic properties, present a compelling candidate for therapeutic intervention in pneumonia. This study harnesses network pharmacology and molecular docking to dissect the underlying mechanisms of these seeds' potential efficacy against pneumonia, followed by experimental validation.Methods: Active compounds in Sophora moorcroftiana seeds were identified using the CNKI database and validated through PubChem and TCMSP. Target proteins were predicted with the Swiss Target Prediction database and confirmed via UniProt. Pneumonia-related targets were identified and intersected with seed compounds using GeneCards, TTD, and UniProt databases. A drug-disease target network was constructed with Cytoscape 3.9.1, and the String database was used to build an interaction network. Molecular docking was performed using Autodock Vina 1.5.6, and an experimental validation was conducted on Kunming SPF male mice treated with the seed extract and induced with LPS to model pneumonia.The search identified five active compounds and 216 target sites within the seeds, with 132 targets interacting with the compounds related to pneumonia. Network analysis highlighted seven core targets, and gene enrichment analysis revealed 338 GO terms and 97 pathways. Molecular docking showed effective binding of key compounds to targets like EGFR and HSP90AA1.Immunohistochemical analysis indicated increased staining for these targets in the LPS group, which was significantly reduced in the Sophora moorcroftiana seeds extract group. Additionally, the study explored the impact of Sophora moorcroftiana seeds on gut microbiota, uncovering significant correlations between gut bacteria and blood routine parameters and inflammatory factor indexes, suggesting that the gut microbiota may be regulated during the intervention of pneumonia.
Keywords: Sophora moorcroftiana seeds, Network Pharmacology, molecular docking, mechanism of action, preventing and treating, Pneumonia, Gut Microbiota
Received: 13 Dec 2024; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Wu, BAI, Wu, Laba, Wujin, Ji, Hua and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Peng Ji, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
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