Potential Mechanism Of Pudilan Against Caries Based On Network Pharmacology

To explore the main active components and potential molecular mechanisms of Pudilan, one well-known traditional Chinese herbal, in preventing and treating caries using network pharmacology. The active components of Pudilan were obtained from TCMSP and BATMAN-TCM databases, and their chemical structures from PubChem. Target identification was performed using the Swiss Target Prediction database. "Drug-Active components-Targets" network was built in Cytoscape 3.7.1 to highlight key components and interactions. The intersection of drug and disease targets was analyzed using the Gene Card database, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was created via STRING. The "Drug-Component-Disease-Target" interaction network was also constructed in Cytoscape. Finally, GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were performed to explore the potential pathways of Pudilan against caries. A total of 103 components were identified, and 143 potential targets of Pudilan for caries prevention were screened. The PPI network revealed 25 core targets, including HSP90AA1, VEGFA, EP300, etc. GO and KEGG analyses indicated that Pudilan’s action against caries primarily involves regulation of MAPK, response to external stimuli, protein kinase activity, and pathways such as AGE-RAGE, RELAXIN, and HIF-1 signaling. This study elucidated the active components, potential molecular targets, and underlying pharmacological mechanisms of Pudilan in the prevention and treatment of caries, providing a valuable insight for the development of Pudilan-based therapeutic agents for caries prevention and treatment.