An Integrated Gut Microbiota and Network Pharmacology Study on Fuzi-Lizhong Pill for Treating Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome

• Published in: Frontiers in pharmacology 2021-11, Vol.12, p.746923-746923
• Main Authors: Zhen, Zhang, Xia, Lin, You, Huang, Jingwei, Zhou, Shasha, Yang, Xinyi, Wei, Wenjing, Lai, Xin, Zhang, Chaomei, Fu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: crucial targets; Fuzi-Lizhong pill; gut microbiota; irritable bowel syndrome; network pharmacology; Pharmacology
• ISSN: 1663-9812; 1663-9812
• DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.746923

Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is one of the most common chronic functional gastrointestinal diseases with limited treatments. Gut microbiota play an important role in chronic gastrointestinal diseases. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Spleen-Yang deficiency (SYD) is one of the root causes of IBS-D. Fuzi-Lizhong pill (FLZP) is well known for its powerful capacity for treating SYD and has a good clinical effect on IBS-D. However, the mechanism of FLZP on the gut microbiota of IBS-D has not been fully clarified. Our present study aimed to reveal the mechanism of FLZP regulating gut microbiota of IBS-D. The body mass, CCK, MTL, and Bristol fecal character score were used to verify the establishment of the IBS-D model. IL-6, TNF, IL-1β, and IFN-γ were crucial targets screened by network pharmacology and preliminarily verified by ELISA. Eighteen gut microbiota were important for the treatment of IBS-D with FLZP. Bacteroidetes, , , and were the crucial gut microbiota that FLZP inhibits persistent systemic inflammation in the IBS-D model is the crucial gut microbiota that FLZP renovates intestinal immune barrier in the IBS-D model. In summary, FLZP can affect bacterial diversity and community structures in the host and regulate inflammation and immune system to treat IBS-D.