Exploring the Mechanism of Action of Berberine on Arrhythmia After Myocardial Infarction: A Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and Cellular Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Arrhythmia after myocardial infarction, a common disease, has a high incidence and lethality in clinical practice, which seriously affects patients’ quality of life and survival time. Based on our previous study and available evidence, berberine plays a role in the treatment and prevention of arrhythmia after myocardial infarction. Thus, in order to clarify the specific mechanism and provide new clinical treatments, we conducted this study.

Method: Firstly, we used bioinformatics analysis and system pharmacology to analyze the physicochemical properties and biological activities of berberine in the Molinspiration server. Secondly, we explored the potential molecular mechanism of arrhythmia after myocardial infarction treated with berberine by using network pharmacology technology: (1) obtaining common genes among berberine, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia through TCMSP, TTD databases, and so forth; (2) constructing protein–protein interaction by using STRING database; (3) using g:Profiler database to conduct GO enrichment analysis of hub genes and pathways; and (4) performing molecular docking and visualization by using AutoDock and Pymol software. Finally, we applied Western blotting analysis and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to validate the expression of relevant proteins in the TGF-β1-induced cell models.

Results: The results of bioinformatics analysis and system pharmacology of berberine indicated that it had wonderful bioavailability and high biological activities. The results of network pharmacology showed that (1) 70 genes related to berberine against arrhythmia after myocardial infarction were obtained, (2) 31 hub genes were obtained by constructing PPI network, and (3) GO enrichment analysis showed that hub genes were associated with mechanisms such as stimulus and cell death. The analysis of KEGG pathways, Wiki pathways, and Reactome pathways showed that the HIF-1 signaling pathway and interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 signaling pathways were the most likely to exert therapeutic effects. (4) The results of molecular docking indicated that berberine most likely exerted therapeutic effects through acting on NGF. Western blotting analysis and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction techniques showed that berberine could reduce the expression of NGF and α-SMA in TGF-β1-induced cell models, which confirmed the accuracy of the above findings.

Conclusion: Berberine can reduce NGF secretion not only by inhibiting the conversion of cardiac fibroblasts to myofibroblasts but also by acting directly on myofibroblasts. Thus, the sympathetic nerve remodeling was inhibited, which can reduce the occurrence of arrhythmia after myocardial infarction. Considering its wonderful bioavailability and high biological activities, we believe that berberine can be a novel potential therapeutic agent with potential for the treatment of arrhythmia after myocardial infarction.