Exploration at the network pharmacology level of possible targeting mechanisms of Smilacis Glabrae Rhixoma for the treatment of osteoporosis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of Smila-cis Glabrae Rhixoma (SGR) on osteoporosis at the level of network pharmacology, and to find new targets and mechanisms of SGR in the treat-ment of osteoporosis, to better find new drugs and their clinical applications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the origi-nal network pharmacology mode, we used an improved mode, such as screening the ingredi-ents and targets of SGR through tools such as GEO database, Autodock Vina, and GROMACS. Through molecular docking, we conducted fur-ther screening for the targets acting on the ef-fective ingredients of SGR, and finally we per-formed molecular dynamics simulation and consulted a large amount of related literature for the validation of the results. RESULTS: By screening and validating the da-ta, we finally confirmed that there were mainly 10 active ingredients in SGR, which were isoerubo-side b, smilagenin, diosgenin, stigmasterol, be-ta-sitosterol, sodium taurocholate, sitogluside, 4,7-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-6-methyl-8-formyl-fla-van, simiglaside B, and simiglaside E, and main-ly acted on eleven targets. These targets main-ly exert therapeutic effects on osteoporosis by regulating 20 signaling pathways including Th17 cell differentiation, HIF-1 signaling pathway, apoptosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and os-teoclast differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study successfully ex-plains the effective mechanism by which SGR ameliorates osteoporosis while predicting the potential targets NFKB1 and CTSK of SGR for the treatment of osteoporosis, which provides a novel basis for investigating the mechanism of action of new Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) at the network pharmacology level and a great support for subsequent studies on oste-oporosis.