The mechanism of guarana regulating central nervous system based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to explore the mechanism of guarana on central nervous system based on network pharmacology and to verify the results by molecular docking technique. The chemical constituents of guarana were collected through the chemical specialty database and TCMSP database, and the targets were predicted, the component-target network map was constructed, the protein interaction network map (PPI) and target-pathway map were constructed, the targets contained in guarana and common targets related to the regulation of central nervous system were screened, GO and KEGG analysis of common target were performed. In the result, the component-target network contains 13 components, 79 targets, 8 of these targets may be the core targets of guarana in regulating the central nervous system. The main biological processes include cAMP signalling pathway, P13K-Akt signalling pathway, calcium signalling pathway, Rap1 signalling pathway and so on. In conclusion, guarana plays a role in regulating the central nervous system through multi-target and multi-pathway. Through the analysis of its core network, it is found that the core efficacy of guarana may focus on anti-fatigue.