Study on the mechanism of the active ingredient of Strychni Semen on nervous system based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

To explore the potential targets and mechanism of Strychni Semen in the nervous system through network pharmacology and molecular docking, in this study, TCMSP, PubChem, and Swiss Target Prediction databases were used to screen the active ingredients and targets of Strychni Semen; related targets of the nervous system were screen out through GeneCards and OMIM databases; the common targets of the two were input into the STRING online analysis platform to construct potential protein interactions (PPI) network. The Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to construct a “component-target” network diagram; then the Metascape platform was used to perform GO and KEGG enrichment analysis on its core targets; and the core target was verified by molecular docking with the active ingredient of Strychni semen. In the results, the screening in Strychni Semen with OB ≥ 30% and DL ≥ 0.18% as the threshold values obtained a total of 15 active ingredients and corresponding 384 potential targets; searched for diseases with “neurological” as keywords, 34769 related targets were mapped to potential drug targets, and 61 common targets were obtained; 74 nodes and 173 edges were read in the “component-target” network diagram; enriched in GO and KEGG A total of 11 signal pathways with significant differences were obtained in the analysis; molecular docking showed that the compounds in Strychni Semen have high binding energy to key proteins of the nervous system. In conclusion, the study initially explored the potential mechanism of Strychni Semen’s multi-pathway and multi-target action on the nervous system, providing scientific basis for the clinical application and in-depth research of the decoction piece.