Integrating network pharmacology and experimental verification to explore the mechanisms of salidroside against myocardial fibrosis

Myocardial fibrosis (MF) is the manifestation of a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Salidroside (SAL) has been proved to have a certain effect on anti-fibrosis in various organs. However, the mechanism of SAL in the treatment of MF remains unclear. Network pharmacology showed that there were 1228 SAL-related target genes and 2793 MF-related target genes. The intersection of these genes resulted in 271 drug-disease interactions, and 15 core active targets were filtered from protein-protein interaction mapping. The top 20 Gene ontology biological processes analysis showed that the involved processes were close to the pathogenesis of MF. Among the top 20 enriched KEGG pathways, Wnt/beta-catenin and TGF-beta 1/Smad3 signaling pathways were identified. In vivo, MI rats exhibited thinning of the myocardial region and the formation of fibrous scars, the expression of smad3 and beta-catenin were increased. After SAL treatment, there was a significant reduction in collagen area and a decrease in the ratio of collagen type I to type III. The expression of smad3 and beta-catenin was suppressed and positively correlated with the dosage of SAL. SAL may contribute to the progression of MF through the TGF-beta 1/Smad3 and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathways.