Abstract: Objective To screen the potential pharmacological targets of Ningzhi capsule, a lipid-lowering traditional Chinese medicine, and explore its mechanism of effect. Methods The components and predicted targets of Ningzhi capsule′s constituent drugs were obtained from BATMAN-TCM database. Hyperlipidemia-related targets were obtained from DisGeNET and GeneCards databases. The Venny2.1.0 tool was used to map drug targets and disease targets to obtain common targets as potential pharmacological targets. Protein-protein interaction analysis (STRING), gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis (DAVID) were performed for the common targets. Finally, Swiss dock was used for molecular docking verification. Results A total of 1 432 predicted targets of Ningzhi capsule and 87 targets related to hyperlipidemia were found and 32 common targets were screened which covered 64 potential pharmacological ingredients of Ningzhi capsule. Potential pharmacological targets were most abundant for turmeric root-tuber, turmeric and cattail pollen, and potential pharmacological ingredients were most abundant for sickle senna seed, turmeric and turmeric root-tuber. Apolipoprotein E (APOE), nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARA) had the highest hyperlipidemia correlation scores and more protein interactions, which were potential core targets. The biological processes related to DNA transcription were significantly enriched. Cholesterol metabolism, cGMP-PKG and PPAR signaling pathways were involved with APOE, NOS3 and PPARA, respectively. Molecular docking showed good binding activity. Conclusions There are many potential pharmacological ingredients of Ningzhi capsule and the key components for lowering lipids include turmeric root-tuber, turmeric, cattail pollen and sickle senna seed. APOE, NOS3 and PPARA are believed to be the key targets for lowering lipids with potential mechanism related to cholesterol metabolism, cGMP-PKG and PPAR signaling pathways.

Key words: Ningzhi capsule, hyperlipidemia, network pharmacology, target, pathway