Exploring the mechanism of Huangjing pill in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

Objective To reveal the mechanism of Huangjing pill in treating Alzheimer’s disease(AD)based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.Methods We obtained the active ingredients and targets of Huangjing pill through Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform,and supplemented the effective components by consulting literature and predicted targets through the PharmMapper database.We used DrugBank,the GeneCards,the TTD,and the OMIM database to collect targets of AD.The Venn diagram was drawn and the key targets of Huangjing pill in the treatment of AD were obtained by Venny 2.1 platform.The Cytoscape 3.8.1 software was used to construct a network diagram of“drugs-active ingredients-key targets-disease”.The protein-protein interaction(PPI)network diagram was constructed through the STRING 11.5 database.DAVID database was used for Gene Ontology function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis.AutoDock Vina1.1.2 software was used for molecular docking of the active components and core targets,and PyMOL 1.7.2.1 software was used for visual processing.Results After screening,we obtained 13 active ingredients and 116 targets of Huangjing Pill,1438 related targets for AD,and 75 common targets.566 items by GO enrichment analysis and 149 items related to KEGG pathway enrichment were obtained.Molecular docking results showed that there is a strong affinity between the key active ingredients and the core targets.Conclusion This study revealed that Huangjing pill could treat AD through multiple components,multiple targets and multiple pathways.