Integration of Zebrafish Model and Network Pharmacology to Explore Possible Action Mechanisms of Morinda officinalis for Treating Osteoporosis

Abstract Osteoporosis (OP) is a metabolic bone disease affecting nearly 200 million individuals globally. Morinda officinalis F.C. How (MOH) has long been used as a traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of bone fractures and joint diseases in China. However, it still remains unclear how the compounds in MOH work synergistically for treating OP. In this study, we used prednisolone (PNSL)‐induced zebrafish OP model to screen the antiosteoporosis components in MOH. A network pharmacology approach was further proposed to explore the underlying mechanism of MOH on OP. The PNSL‐induced zebrafish model validated that two anthraquinones, one iridoid glycoside, and two saccharides exerted antiosteoporotic effect. We constructed the components‐targets network and obtained the enriched Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. A total of 26 candidate compounds of MOH and 257 related targets could probably treat OP through regulating osteoclast differentiation and MAPK signaling pathway. Our work developed a strategy to screen the antiosteoporosis components and explore the underlying mechanism of MOH for treating OP at a network pharmacology level.