Abstract:

To explore the material basis and mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory effects of Hibiscus mutabilis L.. The active ingredients and potential targets of Hibiscus mutabilis L. were obtained through the literature review and SwissADME platform. Genes related to the inflammation were collected using Genecards and OMIM databases, and the intersection genes were submitted on STRING and DAVID websites. Then, the protein interaction network（PPI）, gene ontology（GO）and pathway（KEGG）were analyzed. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct the “Hibiscus mutabilis L. - active ingredient-target-inflammation” network diagram, and AutoDockTools-1.5.6 software was used for the molecular docking verification. The anti-inflammatory effect of Hibiscus mutabilis L. active ingredient was verified by the RAW264.7 inflammatory cell model. The results showed that 11 active components and 94 potential targets, 1 029 inflammatory targets and 24 intersection targets were obtained from Hibiscus mutabilis L.. The key anti-inflammatory active ingredients of Hibiscus mutabilis L. are quercetin, apigenin and luteolin. Its action pathway is mainly related to NF-κB, cancer pathway and TNF signaling pathway. Cell experiments showed that total flavonoids of Hibiscus mutabilis L. could effectively inhibit the expression of tumor necrosis factor （TNF-α）, interleukin 8 （IL-8） and epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR） in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 inflammatory cells. It also down-regulates the phosphorylation of human nuclear factor ĸB inhibitory protein α （IĸBα） and NF-κB p65 subunit protein （p65）. Overall, the anti-inflammatory effect of Hibiscus mutabilis L. is related to many active components, many signal pathways and targets, which provides a theoretical basis for its further development and application.

Key words: Hibiscus mutabilis L., inflammation, network pharmacology, molecular docking, cell validation