Abstract: BACKGROUND: Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Achyranthes bidentata plays a good role in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Due to the complex chemical composition of Achyranthes bidentate, its molecular mechanism underlying the treatment of lumbar disc herniation is not yet clear. As an emerging science, network pharmacology can intuitively clarify the molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in disease treatment at multi-molecule, multi-target and multi-pathway aspects, which can provide a certain theoretical basis for future drug development and disease treatment.
OBJECTIVE: To predict the effective components and targets of Achyranthes bidentata in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation using network pharmacology, and to explore its potential mechanism at multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway aspects.
METHODS: The effective components and targets of Achyranthes bidentata were screened from the TCMSP database, and the predictive targets of lumbar disc herniation were screened through GeneCard database and OMIM databases. The intersected targets of traditional Chinese medicine and disease were then obtained. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct a traditional Chinese medicine-component-disease-target regulatory network. The protein-protein interaction network was constructed through STRING database to screen the core targets. The R packet in Bioconductor was used to analyze the gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway annotation of traditional Chinese medicine and disease intersected targets.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 11 effective components and 21 effective targets of Achyranthes bidentata in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation were screened out. Among them, IL-6, EGFR, VEGFA, CCND1, and MAPK8 might play a crucial role, and it is inferred that their mechanism of action may be related to the KSHN signaling pathway, the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway for diabetic complications, the pancreatic cancer signaling pathway, and TNF signaling pathway. Our prediction results indicate that the mechanism of Achyranthes bidentata in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation may be that quercetin, kaempferol, β-sitosterol and other active ingredients function at IL-6, EGFR, VEGFA, CCND1, MAPK8 targets through PI3K/Akt, TNF, JAK-STAT and VEGF signaling pathways to play anti-cell differentiation, apoptosis and oxidative stress effects, reduce inflammation and promote metabolism. This study provides a theoretical basis and direction for the subsequent clinical trials.

Key words: Achyranthes bidentate, bone, lumbar disc, lumbar disc herniation, network pharmacology, effective component, target