Integrated Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Analysis of Carvacrol and Paeonol against Hypertension

Abstract

Hypertension is a severe chronic cardiovascular condition characterized by oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and vascular remodeling. Natural phytochemicals have sparked widespread interest due to their multitarget therapeutic potential and attractive pharmacological characteristics. The current study used an integrated network pharmacology and molecular docking technique to evaluate the antihypertensive mechanisms of Carvacrol and Paeonol. SwissTargetPrediction and PubChem were used to identify potential phytochemical targets, while the GeneCards database was searched for hypertension-associated genes. Venn analysis was used to identify common targets, which were then used to create protein-protein interaction networks with STRING and Cytoscape. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated a substantial role for calcium signaling pathways in hypertension control. Key overlapping targets were ALB, GSK3B, EP300, MAOB, MAOA, ACHE, SLC6A3, CA9, HDAC6, and PRKCA. Molecular docking analysis revealed that Carvacrol and Paeonol have good binding affinities for hypertension-associated target proteins 4N0F and 4J1R. Docking values for Carvacrol were -4.3 and -5.0 kcal/mol, whereas Paeonol had scores of -4.0 and -4.8 kcal/mol. These data indicate that both phytochemicals have prospective antihypertensive properties via multitarget interactions and pathway modification