ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE： To study the mechanism of Prunus persica-Carthamus tinctorius couplet medicine in the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head （ONFH）. METHODS： The network pharmacology was adopted. The active components of P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine and ONFH target were screened through TCM systematic pharmacological analysis platform target （TCMSP）， DRAR-CPI， hnuman gene database （GeneCards） and online medelian inheritance in man （OMIM） using oral availability of compounds （OB）＞30％ and drug like （DL）＞0.18 as standard. Network topology attribute analysis software Cytoscape 3.6.0 was utilized to construct the active components-ONFH targets network. Target protein interaction network was established on the basis of STRING database， and top 5 target proteins in the list of connectivity were screened， and molecular docking server was used to predict the combination activity of active components from P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine. The biological processes of target gene ontology （GO） and metabolic pathways in Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes （KEGG） were enriched and analyzed by DAVID. RESULTS： A total of 44 active components were screened from P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine， including baicalin， quercetin， etc.， and 78 targets related to ONFH including VEGF， VEGI， CRP， etc. Through analysis of molecular docking server， binding activity of active components of P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine to target protein was strong. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that biological process of P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine for ONFH was related with negative regulation of apoptosis process and positive regulation of nuclear factor-κB transcription factor， mainly through regulating secretory glycoprotein signaling pathway， melanogenesis signaling pathway， VEGF signaling pathway， signaling pathway of basal cell carcinoma， adenosine-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS： This study preliminarily validates the major targets and pathways of P. persica -C. tinctorius couplet medicine for ONFH， which lay a foundation for further study on their pharmacological action.