Network pharmacology and molecular docking to explore the active compounds and mechanisms of Jerusalem artichoke for treating diabetes

The effective components and mechanism of Jerusalem artichokes (JAs) in lowering blood glucose were studied through network pharmacology and molecular docking. The active compounds of Jerusalem artichoke were obtained by referring to the literature, and the active compounds were screened. The targets were predicted by the SwissTargetPrediction database, and the disease targets were screened using GeneCard, Disgenet, and OMIM databases. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network diagram was constructed using the STRING database, and the intersection target was analyzed by gene ontology (GO) biological function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses using the David database. Finally, molecular docking was verified using AutoDockTools1.5.7 software. After screening, 412 gene targets, 476 disease targets, and 64 intersection targets were identified. The results of GO biological function analysis and KEGG pathway analysis showed that the technology was involved in multiple biological processes and regulatory pathways for hypoglycemia, such as the HIF-1, PI3K-Akt, and AMPK signaling pathways. Molecular docking results showed that Jasmonate, Liquiritigenin and Inulin of JAs had strong binding effects with PPARG and STAT3. JAs exert hypoglycemic effects through multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway. In summary, this study investigated the hypoglycemic mechanism of JAs using network pharmacology and molecular interconnection technology, and concluded that JAs exert hypoglycemic effects through multiple components, targets, and pathways, which provides a theoretical basis for the study of JAs.