Hu Yi, Wang Zhuxian, Shen Chunyan, Jiang CuiPing, Zhu Zhaoming, Liang Peiyi, Li Hui, Zeng Quanfu, Xue Yaqi, Wu Yufan, Wang Yuan, Liu Li, Zhu Hongxia, Yi Yankui, Liu Qiang
School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Arch Pharm (Weinheim). 2023 Apr;356(4):e2200470. doi: 10.1002/ardp.202200470. Epub 2023 Jan 27.
Licorice flavonoids (LCFs) have been widely used in food care and medical treatment due to their significant antioxidant activities. However, the molecular mechanism of their antioxidant activity remains unclear. Therefore, network pharmacology, ADMET, density functional theory (DFT), molecular docking, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were employed to explore the molecular mechanism of the antioxidant effects of LCF. The network pharmacology and ADMET studies showed that the active molecules of kumatakenin (pK = 6.18), licoflavonol (pK = 6.86), and topazolin (pK = 6.21) in LCF are key antioxidant components and have good biosafety. Molecular docking and MD simulation studies demonstrated that active molecules interacted with amino acid residues in target proteins to form stable protein-ligand complexes and exert their antioxidant effects. DFT studies showed that the antioxidant activity of LCF could be significantly modulated under the solvent-mediated effect. In addition, based on the derivation of the Henderson-Hasselbalch and van't Hoff formulas, the functional relationships between the reaction-free energy (ΔG) of LCF and the pH and pK values were established. The results showed that active molecules with larger pK values will be more conducive to the improvement of their antioxidant activity under solvent-mediated effects. In conclusion, this study found that increasing the pK value of LCF would be an effective strategy to improve their antioxidant activity under the effect of solvent mediation. The pK value of an LCF will be a direct standard to evaluate its solvent-mediated antioxidant activity. This study will provide theoretical guidance for the development of natural antioxidants.
甘草黄酮(LCFs)因其显著的抗氧化活性而被广泛应用于食品保健和医疗领域。然而,其抗氧化活性的分子机制仍不清楚。因此,采用网络药理学、ADMET、密度泛函理论(DFT)、分子对接和分子动力学(MD)模拟来探究LCF抗氧化作用的分子机制。网络药理学和ADMET研究表明,LCF中的光甘草定(pK = 6.18)、甘草黄酮醇(pK = 6.86)和拓朴黄酮(pK = 6.21)等活性分子是关键的抗氧化成分,且具有良好的生物安全性。分子对接和MD模拟研究表明,活性分子与靶蛋白中的氨基酸残基相互作用,形成稳定的蛋白-配体复合物并发挥其抗氧化作用。DFT研究表明,在溶剂介导作用下,LCF的抗氧化活性可得到显著调节。此外,基于亨德森-哈塞尔巴尔赫公式和范特霍夫公式的推导,建立了LCF的反应自由能(ΔG)与pH值和pK值之间的函数关系。结果表明,在溶剂介导作用下,pK值较大的活性分子更有利于提高其抗氧化活性。总之,本研究发现提高LCF的pK值将是在溶剂介导作用下提高其抗氧化活性的有效策略。LCF的pK值将是评估其溶剂介导抗氧化活性的直接标准。本研究将为天然抗氧化剂的开发提供理论指导。