Investigating the Mechanism of ZhuJing Pill in Treating Glaucoma Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Introduction: Glaucoma is a major cause of irreversible blindness, and neuro-degeneration may continue despite adequate intraocular pressure control. This study aimed to identify the active compounds, therapeutic targets, and potential mechanisms of ZhuJing Pill in glaucoma using Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking. Methods: Bioactive components were screened from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Sys-tems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) using oral bioavailability (OB) >= 30% and drug-likeness (DL) >= 0.18. Compound targets were obtained from TCMSP and SwissTargetPrediction and standardized in UniProt; glaucoma targets were re-trieved from GeneCards, OMIM, and TTD. Intersecting targets were analyzed using STRING/Cytoscape and DAVID, followed by Molecular Docking with AutoDock Vina. Results: Twenty unique bioactive compounds and 301 putative ZhuJing Pill targets were identified. Among 889 glaucoma-related targets, 66 intersected with drug targets. AKT1, PTGS2, BCL2, EGFR, ESR1, HIF1A, MAPK3, MMP9, KDR, and ACE were prioritized as core targets. Enrichment implicated apoptosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, PI3K-Akt, p38/MAPK-related, calcium, HIF-1, and sphingolipid signaling. Multiple representative com-pound-target pairs showed binding energies <= -5.0 kcal/mol. Discussion: These findings support a multi-component regulatory network involving anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective mechanisms. The computa-tional design and lack of experimental validation limit causal interpretation. Conclusion: ZhuJing Pill may act through coordinated multi-target and multi-pathway mech-anisms, with the AKT1-PTGS2-BCL2 axis providing testable targets for future validation.