Network pharmacology-based prediction and verification of the mechanism for Bushen Chengyun granule on low endometrial receptivity

Objective: Bushen Chengyun granule (BCG) is an empirical treatment for female infertility (FI) caused by low endometrial receptivity (LER) involving a poorly understood mechanism. In this study, network pharmacology was used to explore the potential therapeutic mechanism of BCG on FI caused by LER. Methods: The corresponding herb targets were obtained by conducting a search in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and PubMed-reported literature. Disease targets were obtained from the following databases: Comparative Toxicogenomics Database, Human Phenotype Ontology, and Therapeutic Target Database. Treatments for LER using BCG have used target matching (BCG – LER target). Then, the predicted targets were uploaded to the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins database for gene ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses. Furthermore, triptorelin acetate for injection + menotrophin + chorionic gonadotropin for injection were used to establish a mouse model of blastocyst implantation disorder and to evaluate the in vivo effect of BCG on blastocyst implantation. Results: Overall, 156 bioactive chemical components and 1092 targets of BCG were identified. The results indicated that 482 biological processes (FDR