To explore the mechanism of the treatment of ulcerative colitis by using network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques. How: The main active ingredients, action targets and ulcerative colitis of Gardenia and Cypress were screened using TCMSP, Uniprot, Gene-Cards, OMIM and other databases. The active ingredients and targets were analyzed by using Cytoscape 3.9.1 software. Construct the network diagram of "drug - active chemical - disease - action target"; The protein network interaction map was obtained by the STRING database, and the GO analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed by the DAVID database. Molecular docking was performed by AutoDock Vina1.1.2, and the docking results were analyzed by PyMOL2.3.0 and Ligplot V2.2.8. Results: 20 active ingredients, 200 gene targets and 784 ulcerative colitis disease targets were screened out. 55 common targets were obtained by the Venn diagram. The involved signaling pathways include the TNF signaling pathway, NF-kB signaling pathway, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. The results of molecular docking showed that AKT1, IL6, IL1B, TNF, and VEGFA could spontaneously bind to the two active components of the gardenia-yellow juniper pair, and the proteins showed low binding energy with small molecular ligands. Gardenia-yellow cedar drug has anobvious effect on the treatment of ulcerative colitis, and provides a new idea for the clinical treatment and mechanism research of ulcerative colitis.

Jingjing Li, Rui Wang, Yifang Li, Fang Wang, Zichao Hu. Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Study of Gardenia-Phellodendrin in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis. International Journal of Frontiers in Medicine (2024), Vol. 6, Issue 1: 73-82. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJFM.2024.060110.

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