Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: This study aims to explore the analgesic ingredients and mechanism of Cinnamomum camphora essential oil (CCEO). The constituents in CCEO were characterized qualitatively by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Targets related to active ingredients were collected by PubChem and Swiss Target Prediction. Targets related to pain were screened by TTD and OMIM database, and compound-target network was established by Cytoscape software. Gene ontology (GO) function and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of targets were carried out by DAVID database. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established and analyzed by STRING database. Molecular docking method was used to verify the interaction between main components and relevant core targets. A total of 13 compounds were identified in CCEO, and 58 related targets were predicted. GO function enrichment analysis revealed that the selected targets were mainly involved in biological processes such as chemical synaptic transmission and molecular function such as neurotransmitter receptor activity; 24 signal pathways were screened by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, including neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling and calcium signaling pathway. Docking results showed that the main constituents had certain affinities with the key targets. The active ingredients in CCEO regulated multiple signaling pathways to ameliorate pain through AR, ACHE, ESR1, GABRG2, PTGS2 and PPARγ.

Key words: Cinnamomum camphora essential oil, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, analgesic, network pharmacology, selina-6-en-4-ol