The network pharmacology study and molecular docking to investigate the potential mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma against Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease is considered as an insidious neurodegenerative progressive disease but its pathogenesis has not been elucidated. Acoritataninowii Rhizoma exhibits anti-dementia effects as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is linked to its anti- Alzheimer's Disease mechanism. In this study, network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to examine the potential of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma for Alzheimer's Disease. In order to construct PPI networks and drug-component-target-disease networks, disease-related genes and proteins were gathered from the database. Gene ontology (GO), pathway enrichment (KEGG), and molecular docking were used to forecast the potential mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma on Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, 4 active ingredients and 81 target genes were screened from Acoritataninowii Rhizoma, 6765 specific target genes were screened from Alzheimer's Disease, and 61 drug-disease cross genes were validated. GO analysis showed that Acoritataninowii Rhizoma can regulate processes such as the protein serine/threonine kinase associated with MAPK. KeGG pathway analysis showed that the signaling pathways affected by Acoritataninowii Rhizoma were fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, AGE-RAGE and other pathways. Molecular docking implied that the pharmacological influences of the bioactive constituents of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma (Cycloaartenol and kaempferol) on Alzheimer's Disease may related to ESR1 and AKT1, respectively. AKT1 and ESR1 may be the core target genes of the treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Kaempferol and Cycloartenol might be core bioactive constituents for treatment.