Pharmacological mechanism and clinical study of Qiming granules in treating diabetic retinopathy based on network pharmacology and literature review

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a general complication of diabetes, which has become a serious threat to human health worldwide. However, the best treatment is still under development. Qiming (QM) granules are mainly composed of Astragalus membranaceus, Pueraria lobata, Rehmannia Glutinosa, Lycium barbarum, Cassiae Semen, Fructus Leonuri, Pollen Typhae, and Leech, which are beneficial to qi, nourish liver and kidney, and clear collaterals and eyes. The treatment of DR is a comprehensive application based on the above traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, satisfactory results have been achieved for DR. Through the traditional application analysis, network pharmacology analysis and clinical research summary of QM granules, to review the effectiveness and advantages of QM granules in the treatment of DR comprehensively. Analysis of main active components of QM granules by network pharmacology and prediction of mechanism of action of QM granules on DR. Further, PubMed, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were used to search literature, using the keywords of “Qiming granules”, “diabetic retinopathy”, “clinical research” and their combinations, mainly from 1999 to 2022. Traditional pharmacological analysis, Network pharmacological analysis, animal experiments, and clinical studies have confirmed that QM granules plays a role in the treatment of DR through multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple channels. This systematic review for the first time provides meaningful information for the further study of the pharmacodynamic material basis and pharmacological mechanism of QM granules, and also provides a basis for further study of quality markers and quality control of QM granules. [Display omitted] •The first comprehensive review of QM granules.•General analysis of QM granules by combining network pharmacology with literatures.•A more detailed description of the clinical cases of QM granules combination.