A network pharmacology-integrated metabolomics strategy for clarifying the difference between effective compounds of raw and processed Farfarae flos by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry

[Display omitted] •The network pharmacology integrated metabolomics strategy was reported.•Clarifying the difference of effective compounds between raw and processed Farfarae flos.•Raw and processed Farfarae flos was distinguished.•Chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rutin and isoquercitrin were the difference between raw and processed Farfarae flos. This study aimed to clarify the difference between the effective compounds of raw and processed Farfarae flos using a network pharmacology-integrated metabolomics strategy. First, metabolomics data were obtained by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS). Then, metabolomics analysis was developed to screen for the influential compounds that were different between raw and processed Farfarae flos. Finally, a network pharmacology approach was applied to verify the activity of the screened compounds. As a result, 4 compounds (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rutin and isoquercitrin) were successfully screened, identified, quantified and verified as the most influential effective compounds. They may synergistically inhibit the p38, JNK and ERK-mediated pathways, which would induce the inhibition of the expression of the IFA virus. The results revealed that the proposed network pharmacology-integrated metabolomics strategy was a powerful tool for discovering the effective compounds that were responsible for the difference between raw and processed Chinese herbs.