Abstract

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis is an intermediate link in the transformation from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to non-alcoholic cirrhosis. Jianpi Shenshi Jiangzhuo formula, an effective prescription for treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is summarized by our research group on the basis of long-term clinical practice. Based on the network pharmacology and molecular docking, this study explores the mechanism of Jianpi Shenshi Jiangzhuo formula in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatment. The expression profiles of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-associated genes were downloaded and the potential disease targets were obtained by differential gene analysis. 11 single drug ingredients of the Jianpi Shenshi Jiangzhuo formula were searched and the active ingredients were screened with oral bioavailability ≥30 % and drug-likeness ≥0.18 as the criteria. The corresponding targets were found and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway and Gene Ontology functional pathway enrichment analyses were carried out to identify mitochondrial pathway genes. The drug target genes were then intersected with the differentially expressed genes of the disease to identify the overlapping genes, after which molecular docking between active ingredients and core targets was performed.