Food and Fermentation Industries >

2026 , Vol. 52 >Issue 2: 174 - 183

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13995/j.cnki.11-1802/ts.042956

Integrated widely targeted metabolomics and computational strategies to explore anti-cardiovascular disease active ingredients of Camellia oleifera fruits

  • WU Wei ,
  • WEN Zixin ,
  • YIN Liuzhe ,
  • XIONG Zhe ,
  • YU Jiahui ,
  • CAO Ying ,
  • PENG Jing ,
  • TANG Xinxin ,
  • ZHU Huahuo
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  • (College of Biology and Agricultural Resources, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China)

Received date: 2025-04-08

  Revised date: 2025-06-11

  Online published: 2026-03-18

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Abstract

This paper investigated the mechanism of flavonoid components in Camellia oleifera fruits (COF) against cardiovascular diseases.Metabolomic analysis was used to identify the metabolite composition of three tissues (seed kernel, seed shell, and pericarp) of COF.Through network pharmacology analysis and experimental verification in HepG2 cells, the potential mechanisms by which the flavonoid components of COF intervene in cardiovascular diseases were explored.Metabolomic analysis identified flavonoids as the most abundant substances in COF, with a total of 373 substances detected.Network pharmacology analysis screened 132 component targets, 6 potential major effective components, 1 453 disease target genes, and 44 disease intersection targets.Based on the results of molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation, the core target genes were preliminarily identified.Experimental validation demonstrated that, compared with the model group, the key flavonoid components of COF significantly downregulated the mRNA expression levels of SRC and ESR1.Additionally, extended gene analysis overlapped with the GO and KEGG analyses of the predicted targets, verifying the reliability of the predicted targets.It was shown that the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway acted as a key pathway to intervene in cardiovascular diseases.Drug safety assessment indicated that the main effective components would not cause nephrotoxicity or neurotoxicity.The core flavonoid components of COF show great potential in the intervention against cardiovascular diseases, providing a brand-new perspective for the high-quality utilization of Camellia oleifera by-products.

Key words： Camellia oleifera fruits; genetic resources; widely targeted metabolomics; network pharmacology; flavonoid

Cite this article

WU Wei , WEN Zixin , YIN Liuzhe , XIONG Zhe , YU Jiahui , CAO Ying , PENG Jing , TANG Xinxin , ZHU Huahuo . Integrated widely targeted metabolomics and computational strategies to explore anti-cardiovascular disease active ingredients of Camellia oleifera fruits[J]. Food and Fermentation Industries, 2026 , 52(2) : 174 -183 . DOI: 10.13995/j.cnki.11-1802/ts.042956

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