Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of the extract of [Camellia petelotii (Merrill) Sealy, CPS] on ulcerative colitis (UC) by combining network pharmacology, molecular docking technology and animal experiments. Methods The active components and targets of CPS were screened using the network pharmacology method before the “component-target-disease” network and protein interaction network were constructed. Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were conducted. Molecular docking technology was adopted to test the binding ability of core components to core targets. A UC mouse model was induced by 2% dextran sodium sulfate. A normal control group, model group, CPS low-and high-dose groups (2.5, 5 g·kg^-1) and sulfasalazine positive normal control group (500 mg·kg^-1) were set up to evaluate the disease activity index (DAI) and pathological changes of colon tissues. The levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in colon tissues were detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The expressions of IL-6 and Messenger RNA (mRNA) of B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) were detected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results Using network pharmacology, such components as kaempferol and quercetin were screened as the core components of CPS in the treatment of UC while IL-6 and v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1) were the key targets, which were significantly enriched in biological processes such as inflammatory response and apoptosis. Molecular docking showed that the core components had a strong binding ability with the core targets (binding energy< -5.0 kcal·mol^-1). Animal experiments suggested that CPS could significantly reduce the DAI score of UC mice (P<0.05), improve the pathological damage to colon tissues, inhibit the release of pro-inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α and MMP-2 (P<0.05), down-regulate the expression of IL-6 mRNA and up-regulate the expression of BCL-2 mRNA (P<0.05). Conclusion The CPS extract can combat ulcerative colitis by regulating IL-6, MMP-2 and BCL-2, inhibiting inflammatory response, apoptosis and tissue remodeling.

Key words: Camellia petelotii (Merrill) Sealy (CPS), Ulcerative Colitis (UC), Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, Inflammatory Response, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Mice