Exploration of the Potential and Mechanisms of Diabetic Cognitive Disorder Modulation by Daehwangmokdanpi-tang through a Network Pharmacological Approach

Objectives: This study utilized a network pharmacology approach to investigate the potential therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms of Daehwangmokdanpi-tang (DHMDPT) in diabetic cognitive disorder (DCD).Methods: The compounds of DHMDPT and their target genes were obtained from the OASIS and PubChem databases. These putative target genes were compared with known targets of DCD to identify potential correlations. Using Cytoscape 3.10.2, a network was constructed to highlight key target genes. To further elucidate the underlying mechanisms, functional enrichment analysis was performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. Finally, CB-DOCK was used to assess binding affinities and confirm the interactions.Results: The results showed that a total of 27 compounds and 439 related genes were identified from DHMDPT. Among these, 373 genes interacted with the DCD gene set, indicating a close relationship between the effects of DHMDPT and DCD. Through GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathways, ‘Regulation of Apoptotic Process’, ‘Cytokine-Mediated signaling pathway’, and ‘AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications’ were identified as the functional pathways of the 18 key target genes of DHMDPT on DCD. Additionally, molecular docking was performed to assess the binding affinities of the six most highly associated key target genes of DCD with active compounds.Conclusions: Using a network pharmacology approach, which included molecular docking, DHMDPT was found to be highly relevant to DCD. This study could serve as a foundation for further research on the cognitive enhancement effects of DHMDPT in DCD.