Molecular targets and mechanisms of "Radix Polygalae" in treating Alzheimer's disease based on network pharmacology methods and molecular docking analysis

Molecular targets and mechanisms of "Radix Polygalae" in treating Alzheimer's disease based on network pharmacology methods and molecular docking analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Molecular targets and mechanisms of "Radix Polygalae" in treating Alzheimer's disease based on network pharmacology methods and molecular docking analysis Yifan Wang, Jingwen Zhu, Shaoqiang Wang, Zhe Zhang, Jihong Zhou, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5262319/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is an irreversible and fatal degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Radix Polygalae is a Chinese medicinal widely applied in the treatment of AD. The mechanism and target of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD were explored using network pharmacology and molecular docking methods. In this study, the TCMDatabase@Taiwan database, BATMAN-TCM database, and Chemistry database were searched to determine the chemical components in Radix Polygalae and the target genes involved in AD treatment. A “medicinal-active ingredient-target” network of Radix Polygalae treating AD was constructed.Kyoto Encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis was conducted to determine the involved signaling pathways and molecular docking was conducted to determine the components in Radix Polygalae with best binding ability with core targets. Norharman, onjixanthone I, norhyoscyamine, 1-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthone, tenuifoliside D might be the key components of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD. EGFR, MAPK1, MAP2K1, GRIN2A, HTR2C, and JAK1 were core target genes involved in the treatment by Radix Polygalae for AD. According to KEGG analysis, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway, and calcium signaling pathway were the major pathways involved in the treatment of AD by Radix Polygalae. Molecular docking showed that norharman, onjixanthone I, norhyoscyamine, 1-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthone, and tenuifoliside D have good binding abilities with core targets. The mechanism of Radix Polygalae in AD treatment is in a multi-component and multi-target manner through reversing the activity of acetylcholinesterase, regulating Ca2+ channels, relieving neuroinflammation, inhibiting amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation and tau phosphorylation. The results of this study might provide theoretical guidance for researchers to further explore the mechanism of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD in vivo and in vitro. Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Data mining Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Databases Network Pharmacology Molecular Docking Bioinformatics Alzheimer’s Disease Radix Polygalae KEGG analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5262319","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":374671104,"identity":"8acc4747-61dd-4366-a986-788c8b679e68","order_by":0,"name":"Yifan Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yifan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":374671105,"identity":"b7c99d67-b0ae-47a7-bbc9-fcea9cea72e6","order_by":1,"name":"Jingwen Zhu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangzhou University of Chinese 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Radix Polygalae is a Chinese medicinal widely applied in the treatment of AD. The mechanism and target of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD were explored using network pharmacology and molecular docking methods. In this study, the TCMDatabase@Taiwan database, BATMAN-TCM database, and Chemistry database were searched to determine the chemical components in Radix Polygalae and the target genes involved in AD treatment. A “medicinal-active ingredient-target” network of Radix Polygalae treating AD was constructed.Kyoto Encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis was conducted to determine the involved signaling pathways and molecular docking was conducted to determine the components in Radix Polygalae with best binding ability with core targets. Norharman, onjixanthone I, norhyoscyamine, 1-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthone, tenuifoliside D might be the key components of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD. EGFR, MAPK1, MAP2K1, GRIN2A, HTR2C, and JAK1 were core target genes involved in the treatment by Radix Polygalae for AD. According to KEGG analysis, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway, and calcium signaling pathway were the major pathways involved in the treatment of AD by Radix Polygalae. Molecular docking showed that norharman, onjixanthone I, norhyoscyamine, 1-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthone, and tenuifoliside D have good binding abilities with core targets. The mechanism of Radix Polygalae in AD treatment is in a multi-component and multi-target manner through reversing the activity of acetylcholinesterase, regulating Ca2+ channels, relieving neuroinflammation, inhibiting amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation and tau phosphorylation. The results of this study might provide theoretical guidance for researchers to further explore the mechanism of Radix Polygalae in the treatment of AD in vivo and in vitro.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Molecular targets and mechanisms of \"Radix Polygalae\" in treating Alzheimer's disease based on network pharmacology methods and molecular docking analysis","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-11-07 07:49:06","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5262319/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"930a603f-f952-487f-b613-4cff4cb6d852","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 7th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":39879287,"name":"Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics"},{"id":39879288,"name":"Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Data mining"},{"id":39879289,"name":"Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Databases"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-05-28T09:09:05+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-11-07 07:49:06","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5262319","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5262319","identity":"rs-5262319","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}