Efficacy of Valerian Root Extract on Anxiety via Bioinformatics

Treatment with root extract of valerian can reduce anxiety neurosis symptoms. To investigate the related therapeutic impacts, bioinformatics analysis of proteome profile of rat’s hippocampus tissue was carried out.

Cytoscape V.3.9.1, and its plug-ins were applied for the construction of protein-protein interaction network of the treated subjects. NetworkAnalyzer and ClueGO+CuePedia were used to study centrality and gene ontology of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network.

Results indicated that seven central proteins Actb, Alb, Akt1, Egfr, Tp53 as hub-bottlenecks and Th and H2afx as hub and bottleneck differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) are present in the PPI network and four corresponding biological processes. Among these seven proteins, two including tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (Th) and Histone H2A (H2afx) are differentially expressed proteins in the exposure of valerian.

It was found that the histone H2A and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase as central nodes are the main targets of valerian which are associated with anti-anxiety effects of the herb.