An Analysis Study of Celastrus orbiculatus Fruits (Beihehuan) for Insomnia Treatment and Potential Replacement for Albizia julibrissin Flowers (Hehuanhua).

Celastrus orbiculatus fruits as Beihehuan (BHH) in Chinese are used as an alternative to Albizia julibrissin flowers (Hehuanhua) for insomnia treatment in North of China. Both of them perhaps contain similar material foundations with common components, making them highly worthy of systematic analysis of the ingredients and related pharmacological mechanisms. In this study, the components in BHH were comprehensively analyzed by LC-MS/MS-based molecular networking technology combined with literature reports, and important targets and core active ingredients in BHH that can treat insomnia were screened through network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. Finally, a total of 136 components were annotated and summarized. BHH had flavonoids, fatty acids, and volatile oil as similar or the same component categories and structures as Hehuanhua, especially different categories of dihydro-β-agarofuran-type sesquiterpenoids with similar functions. The screened top 10 KEGG pathways involved signal transduction related to neurotransmitters, hormones, and addictive substances, and the selected effective ingredients could play synergistic roles in inflammation regulation and neuroprotection. These results provide that BHH may be able to replace Hehuanhua in treating insomnia and other neurological disorders; modern research can provide the scientific connotation and basis for the proposed forward-thinking TCM theory of "effect-oriented source unification" and "heteroagent possessing homofunction."