Exploring the potential therapeutic effect of Eucommia ulmoides-Dipsaci Radix herbal pair on osteoporosis based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology

Eucommia ulmoides-Dipsaci Radix (EU-DR) is a commonly used herbal pair for the treatment of osteoporosis (OP) in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential mechanism of EU-DR on OP through network pharmacology and molecular docking approaches. Combining data from multiple open-source databases and literature mining, the active compounds and potential targets of EU-DR were screened out. The OP related targets were identified from the interactive web tool GEO2R. The shared targets were obtained by intersecting the targets of EU-DR and OP. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed via the STRING database and Cytoscape 3.7.2 software. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis were conducted using R 3.6.3 software with adjusted p-value < 0.05. Sybyl-x 2.1.1 and Autodock Vina 1.1.2 software were used to cross validate the affinity between active compounds and target proteins. Our results showed that a total of 50 active compounds were screened, corresponding to 895 EU-DR targets, 2202 OP targets and 144 shared targets. The flavonoids in EU-DR played an important role in anti-OP. The enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG suggested EU-DR exerted a therapeutic effect on OP mainly by regulating the osteoclast differentiation related signaling pathway. Meanwhile, molecular docking results showed that most active compounds in EU-DR had strong binding efficiency to the target proteins. In conclusion, this study elaborated the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway interaction mechanism of the EU-DR herbal pair in the treatment of OP for the first time, which also provided a pharmacological basis for treating OP.