Healing Functions of Carthami Flos against Contusion and Other Potential Damages

摘要

Carthami Flos (CF), a Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has been widely used in TCM prescriptions and Chinese patent medicines against contusion and potential bone fractures and striated muscle damages for its outstanding healing functions. Although intensively studied, its healing mechanisms w.r.t. TCM theory are still not elucidated at protein interaction level. In this study, bioinformatics analysis was deployed based on experiment-evidenced reliable knowledge on bio-active compounds and targeted proteins. Further enrichment analysis revealed three key role healing functions provided by CF e.g., regulation of blood vessel diameter, ossification, and regulation of striated muscle development. Besides, underlying protein interaction networks were also proposed and validated. This study provided a reliable approach to study the therapeutic mechanisms of Chinese medicines.