ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the active components, targets and mechanism of Guizhi Fuling Pills in the treatment of atherosclerosis (AS) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.Methods:The active components and potential target information of Guizhi Fuling Pills in the treatment of AS was obtained using Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), SwissTargetPrediction database and Genecards database. The target protein interaction network was constructed by using STRING database. The DAVID database was used to perform the Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment on potential targets. AutoDockVina and PyMOL software were used to verify the molecular docking of the main active components and key targets of Guizhi Fuling Pills.Results:A total of 74 active components, 239 potential targets and 4 710 AS-related disease targets were screened, and 182 intersection targets were obtained. A total of 484 biological process items, 132 molecular function items and 74 cellular component items were obtained by GO functional enrichment analysis, and 116 signal pathways were screened by KEGG enrichment analysis. The results of molecular docking suggested that the active components of Guizhi Fuling Pills have good binding activity to the key intersection targets.Conclusion:The active components of Guizhi Fuling Pills, such as sitosterol and paeoniflorin, mainly treat AS by regulating estrogen signal pathway and inflammatory signal pathway through TNF, VEGFA and other targets.