OBJECTIVE To explore the medication rule and potential mechanism of anti-aging traditional Chinese medicine health care prescription by using data mining, network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.

METHODS By searching the special food information query platform of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Yaozhi.com, the health care prescriptions with traditional Chinese medicine as the main component and anti-aging effect were searched. The data mining technology was used to analyze the prescription rules, and the core anti-aging traditional Chinese medicine was selected according to the analysis results. The chemical constituents and corresponding targets of core anti-aging traditional Chinese medicines were obtained by searching TCMSP and other databases; potential targets related to aging from GeneCards and OMIM databases were screened; the intersection targets of core Chinese medicine and aging were obtained. Subsequently, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed using STRING database and Cytoscape 3.7.2 software. Finally, the affinity of core targets and key components was verified by molecular docking technology.

RESULTS A total of 244 kinds of anti-aging traditional Chinese medicine health care prescriptions were screened and included. The prescription drugs were mainly tonic drugs, the drug properties were mostly warm and mild, the drug taste was mainly sweet, the drugs were mainly distributed in the five zang organs, with the kidney meridian being the first target. According to the results of comprehensive data analysis, five core Chinese medicines (Wolfberry, ginseng, American ginseng, Astragalus, Poria) were screened out. A total of 105 active ingredients (corresponding to 219 target genes), 1 568 aging-related potential targets, and 137 intersection targets were obtained. According to the degree value, 12 core targets were screened out, mainly involving cancer pathways, lipids and atherosclerosis, AGE-RAGE and other signaling pathways. The results of molecular docking showed that the key anti-aging components could spontaneously and stably bind to the core targets.

CONCLUSION Through data mining, network pharmacology and molecular docking, the prescription rules of anti-aging Chinese medicine health care prescriptions are analyzed, and the anti-aging potential targets and mechanism pathways of five core traditional Chinese medicines are preliminarily revealed, so as to provide reference and theoretical basis for delaying aging and preventing and treating related diseases in the elderly.