Rhizoma drynariae is the main traditional Chinese medicine used for the treatment of osteoporosis, but its anti-osteoporotic targeting mechanism has not been fully elucidated due to the complexity of its active ingredients. In this study, the pharmacological mechanism of action of Rhizoma drynariae against osteoporosis was studied by integrating pharmacological concepts. The pharmacokinetic characteristics of selected major active constituents of Rhizoma drynariae and the SMILES structural similarity were used to predict related targets. A literature search was conducted to identify known osteoporosis treatment targets, which were then combined with the predicted targets to construct the direct or indirect target interaction network map of Rhizoma drynariae against osteoporosis. Finally, data on the key targets of the interactions, ranked according to relevant node parameters obtained through pathway enrichment analysis and screening of key targets and active ingredients of Rhizoma drynariae, were used to perform molecular docking simulation. We screened 16 active ingredients of Rhizoma drynariae, and 7 key targets with direct or indirect effects with a high frequency were obtained. These main pathways were found to play important roles in the PI3k-akt signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation, Wnt signaling pathway, and estrogen signaling pathway. Molecular docking showed that most active ingredients of Rhizoma drynariae had strong binding efficiency with key targets. Based on network pharmacology, we conclude that Rhizoma drynariae plays an anti-osteoporotic role by directly or indirectly targeting multiple major signaling pathways and influencing the proliferation and differentiation of multiple types of cells.

Keywords: Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action, Osteoporosis, Protein Interaction Maps, Computer Simulation, Databases, Factual, Drug development, Drugs, Chinese Herbal, Molecular Docking Simulation, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacological and Toxicological Phenomena, Polypodiaceae