Xiaoerfupi alleviates the symptoms of functional dyspepsia by regulating the HTR3A and c-FOS

To evaluate whether Xiaoerfupi (XEFP), a traditional Chinese medicine formula, can ameliorate functional dyspepsia (FD) through regulation of the HTR3A and c-FOS.The FD rat model was established through administration of iodoacetamide (IA) and interval fasting. XEFP group rats received XEFP for 3 weeks. Detection of gastric emptying and gastrin were performed to assess the interventional effect of XEFP. The constituents of XEFP were submitted to BATMAN-TCM, an online bioinformatics analysis tool, to predict the targets related to dyspepsia. Furthermore, the prediction was validated via Western blot assay.XEFP enhanced gastric emptying of rats (XEFP middle dose vs. FD model: 71.87 ± 15.21% vs. 30.07 ± 12.76%, P < 0.01) and simultaneously increased gastrin in FD rats (XEFP middle dose vs. FD model: 63.61 ± 17.90 vs. 26.14 ± 7.78 pg/ml, P < 0.01). KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction was successfully enriched (P-value = 2.2E-13, Benjamini = 2.0E-11). Combining different Bioinformatics analysis implied that XEFP regulates HTR3A and c-FOS. Subsequently molecular biological studies confirmed that the expression of HTR3A and c-FOS in the model group was upregulated in rats in comparison with the control group. Furthermore, the expression of HTR3A and c-FOS in the XEFP group (middle dose) compared with the model group was significantly reduced (P < 0.01).XEFP may ameliorate FD through regulation of the HTR3A and c-FOS.