Study on the Antibacterial Mechanism of Pomegranate Peel Based on Network Pharmacology

OBJECTIVE To explore the antibacterial mechanism of pomegranate peel using network pharmacology and molecular docking method.METHODS The network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to analyze the relationship between main components of pomegranate skin and antibacterial targets, and studied the minimum inhibitory concentration of main components of pomegranate skin on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as the regulation of alkaline phosphatase, nucleic acid and protein.RESULTS Eight components of pomegranate skin interacted with 43 proteins of E. coli and 5 components interacted with 27 proteins of S. aureus through network pharmacology screening. Five main components, quercetin, ellagic acid, catechin, luteolin and kaempferol, were selected to inhibit the activity of E. coli and S. aureus. Moreover, it was found that more alkaline phosphatase, nucleic acid and protein were detected in the supernatant of the culture medium after the treatment of E. coli and S. aureus with these five ingredients, indicating that these components would destroy the cell wall and cell membrane of the bacteria, thus exerting bacteriostatic effect. The gallic acid, a main component of pomegranate skin, could bind nkd and gnd protein in E. coli and S. aureus to play an antibacterial effect through coprecipitation assay.CONCLUSION Based on network pharmacology and molecular docking, this study speculated that pomegranate peel has the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway in antibacterial action, providing new ideas and new directions for further research on the molecular mechanism of pomegranate peel antibacterial activity.