Dissection of the potential immunomodulatory activity materials and mechanism of Wu Shen Wan (a classical traditional Chinese medicine prescription) based on in vivo substances profiling and network pharmacology

In the present study, a comprehensive strategy based on substances profiling in vivo and network pharmacology method was applied to screen out the potential immunomodulatory activity substances and mechanism of Wu Shen Wan. As a result, a total of 121 constituents were identified or tentatively characterized, including 26 flavonoids, 16 alkaloids, 10 tanshinones, four diterpenes, seven iridoid glycosides, eight coumarin, 18 phenolic acids, 29 ginsenosides, and three others. Moreover, 57 prototypes were clearly screened out in rat plasma and urine after ingestion of Wu Shen Wan. The Wu Shen Wan exhibited immunomodulatory effects via significantly increasing the phagocytic activity of macrophages and inducing the release of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin 6 in RAW264.7 cells. In addition, the network pharmacology results showed that the top 20 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes clusters were enriched, such as mitogen-activated protein kinases pathway. This is the first systematic study on the chemical constituents of Wu Shen Wan. The analytical method features a quick and comprehensive dissection of the chemical composition and provides a basis for exploring its immunomodulatory effects.