Metabolomics study on the therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu decoction in coronary heart disease based on LC-Q-TOF/MS and GC-MS analysis

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine on metabolism disturbance in ischemic heart diseases

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ischemic heart diseases (IHD), characterized by metabolic dysregulation, contributes majorly to the global morbidity and mortality. Glucose, lipid and amino acid metabolism are critical energy production for cardiomyocytes, and disturbances of these metabolism lead to the cardiac injury. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), widely used for treating IHD, have been demonstrated to effectively and safely regulate the cardiac metabolism reprogramming.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

This study discussed and analyzed the disturbed cardiac metabolism induced by IHD and development of formulas, extracts, single herb, bioactive compounds of TCM ameliorating IHD injury via metabolism regulation, with the aim of providing a basis for the development of clinical application of therapeutic strategies for TCM in IHD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

With "ischemic heart disease", "myocardial infarction", "myocardial ischemia", "metabolomics", "Chinese medicine", "herb", "extracts" "medicinal plants", "glucose", "lipid metabolism", "amino acid" as the main keywords, PubMed, Web of Science, and other online search engines were used for literature retrieval.

RESULTS

IHD exhibits a close association with metabolism disorders, including but not limited to glycolysis, the TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, branched-chain amino acids, fatty acid β-oxidation, ketone body metabolism, sphingolipid and glycerol-phospholipid metabolism. The therapeutic potential of TCM lies in its ability to regulate these disturbed cardiac metabolisms. Additionally, the active ingredients of TCM have depicted wonderful effects in cardiac metabolism reprogramming in IHD.

CONCLUSION

Drawing from the principles of TCM, we have pinpointed specific herbal remedies for the treatment of IHD, and leveraged advanced metabolomics technologies to uncover the effect of these TCMs on metabolomics alteration. In the future, further clinical experimental studies should be included to explore whether more TCM medicines can play a therapeutic role in IHD by reversing cardiac metabolism disorders; multi-omics would be conducted to explore more pathways and genes targeting such metabolism reprogramming by TCMs, and to seek more TCM therapies for IHD.

Analyzing the molecular mechanism of xuefuzhuyu decoction in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with network pharmacology and bioinformatics and verifying molecular docking

BACKGROUND

XueFuZhuYu (XFZY), a typical Chinese herbal formula, has remarkable clinical effects for treating Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) with unclear mechanisms. Our research involved the utilization of network pharmacology to explore the traditional Chinese herbal monomers and their related targets within XFZY for PH treatment. Furthermore, molecular docking verification was performed.

METHODS

The XFZY's primary active compounds, along with their corresponding targets, were both obtained from the TCMSP, ChEMBL, and UniProt databases. The target proteins relevant to PH were sifted through OMIM, GeneCards and TTD databases. The common "XFZY-PH" targets were evaluated with Disease Ontology (DO), Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses with the assistance of R software. The Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network and compound-target-pathway network were constructed and a systematic analysis of network parameters was performed by the powerful software Cytoscape. Molecular docking was employed for assessing and verifying the interactions between the core targets and the top Chinese herbal monomer.

RESULTS

The screening included 297 targets of active compounds in XFZY and 8400 PH-related targets. DO analysis of the above common 268 targets indicated that the treatment of the diseases by XFZY is mediated by genes related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Obstructive Lung Disease (OLD), ischemia, and myocardial infarction. The findings from molecular docking indicated that the binding energies of 57 ligand-receptor pairs in PH and 20 ligand-receptor pairs in COPD-PH were lower than -7kJ•mol-1.

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicates that XFZY is a promising option within traditional Chinese medicine compound preparation for combating PH, particularly in cases associated with COPD. Our demonstration of the specific molecular mechanism of XFZY anti-PH and its effective active ingredients provides a theoretical basis for better clinical application of the compound.

Effects of Radix Scrophulariae on Hyperthyroidism Assessed by Metabonomics and Network Pharmacology

Radix Scrophulariae (Chinese name: Xuanshen), a traditional Chinese herb, is used for the treatment of hyperthyroidism, and in this study, its mechanisms were evaluated by metabonomics and system pharmacology. To study the anti-hyperthyroidism effects of R. Scrophulariae, a male SD rat (180–220 g) model of hyperthyroidism induced by Euthyrox was used. Thirty rats were randomly distributed into three groups: the Model group, the R. Scrophulariae treatment group (RS group) and the healthy Control group. Using the UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS metabolomics approach, 44 metabolites were found to be profoundly altered in the model group, and the levels of these biomarkers were significantly decreased after treatment with R. Scrophulariae. Forty-four metabolites and 13 signaling pathways related to R. Scrophulariae, including the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, primary bile acid biosynthesis and sphingolipid metabolism, were explored, and linoleic acid metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism were identified as the most relevant metabolic pathways. In addition, the system pharmacology paradigm revealed that R. Scrophulariae contains 83 active ingredients and is related to 795 genes, and 804 disease genes are related to hyperthyroidism. The construction of the R. Scrophulariaceae-chemical composition-target-hyperthyroidism network identified a total of 112 intersection genes. The enriched gene targets were analyzed, and five pathways were found to be enriched. Among them pathways, the HIF signaling pathway had the highest enrichment score, which indicated that this pathway might be the main signaling pathway related to the treatment of hyperthyroidism by R. Scrophulariae.The integrated approach involving metabolomics and network pharmacology revealed that R. Scrophulariae might play a role in the treatment of hyperthyroidism by regulating the “IL6-APOA1-cholesterol” pathway and disturbing the HIF signaling pathway. The results demonstrate that the combination of metabolomics and network pharmacology could be used to reflect the effects of R. Scrophulariae on the biological network and metabolic state of hyperthyroidism and to evaluate the drug efficacy of R. Scrophulariaceae and its related mechanisms.

Metabolomics: A Scoping Review of Its Role as a Tool for Disease Biomarker Discovery in Selected Non-Communicable Diseases

Metabolomics is a branch of ‘omics’ sciences that utilises a couple of analytical tools for the identification of small molecules (metabolites) in a given sample. The overarching goal of metabolomics is to assess these metabolites quantitatively and qualitatively for their diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic potentials. Its use in various aspects of life has been documented. We have also published, howbeit in animal models, a few papers where metabolomic approaches were used in the study of metabolic disorders, such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity. As the goal of every research is to benefit humankind, the purpose of this review is to provide insights into the applicability of metabolomics in medicine vis-à-vis its role in biomarker discovery for disease diagnosis and management. Here, important biomarkers with proven diagnostic and therapeutic relevance in the management of disease conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), diabetic retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease, are noted. The paper also discusses a few reasons why most metabolomics-based laboratory discoveries are not readily translated to the clinic and how these could be addressed going forward.

Ge-Gen-Jiao-Tai-Wan Affects Type 2 Diabetic Rats by Regulating Gut Microbiota and Primary Bile Acids

The Ge-Gen-Jiao-Tai-Wan (GGJTW) formula has been used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in China for a long time. Our previous study has proved that GGJTW could alleviate the type 2 diabetic symptoms, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the changes in gut microbiota and primary bile acids (PBAs) to determine the potential mechanisms of GGJTW in treating T2DM.The fecal transplant method and pseudogerm-free rats were used in our study.The16S rRNA gene sequencing method was used to analyze the changes in the intestinal flora, and PBAs in the colon contents were detected. Finally, the expression of farnesoid X receptor (FXR), G protein-coupled membrane receptor 5 (TGR5), and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) was assessed. Following GGJTW treatment, we observed a decrease in blood glucose levels and improvements in glucose tolerance and serum lipid levels. Furthermore, we found that GGJTW could regulate the composition of the gut microbiota and upregulate the diabetic beneficial phylum Firmicutes and bile-acid-related genus Lactobacillus. PBAs in the colon contents were increased in the GGJTW-treated group, accompanied by upregulated expression of the bile acid receptors FXR and TGR5 and increased concentrations of GLP-1. These results indicated that GGJTW could alleviate symptoms of type 2 diabetic rats by regulating the gut microbiota, promoting the production of PBAs, and upregulating the PBA-FXR/TGR5-GLP-1 pathway.

1H NMR-based metabolomics study of the dynamic effect of Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu capsules on coronary heart disease rats induced by high-fat diet, coronary artery ligation

An ¹H NMR-based metabolomics approach was conducted to holisticly explore the effect of Xue Fu Zhu Yu (XFZY) capsule (a well-known Chinese herbal medicine) on high-fat diets combined with coronary artery ligation induced coronary heart disease (CHD) model rats. 1H NMR-based metabolomics approach combined with multivariate analysis was performed to explore potential biomarkers, a total of 20 metabolites were confirmed as contributors to the discrimination of model group and sham group. We investigated the dynamic metabolic characteristics of XFZY capsule on CHD rats, lactate, glutamine, pyruvate, citrate, choline and taurine were potential biomarkers of early effect. More potential biomarkers changed after 28 days of medication, XFZY capsules primarily influenced the taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, purine metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis.

Analysis of the Volatile Components in Selaginella doederleinii by Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Selaginella doederleinii (SD) is a perennial medicinal herb widely distributed in China. In this study, the volatile components of SD from two regions (24 batches), namely Zhejiang and Guizhou, were determined by combining headspace solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS). After investigating different influence factors, the optimal conditions for extraction were as follows: The sample amount of 1 g, the polydimethylsiloxane-divinylbenzene (PDMS-DVB) fiber of 65 µm, the extraction time of 20 min, and the extraction temperature of 100 °C. Based on the above optimum conditions, 58 volatiles compounds, including 20 terpenes, 11 alkanes, 3 alcohols, 6 ketones, 3 esters, 11 aldehydes, 1 ether, 1 aromatic, 1 phenol, and 1 furan, were found and identified in SD. Furthermore, hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were successfully applied to distinguish the chemical constituents of SD from two regions. Additionally, anethol, zingerone, 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, ledene, hexyl hexanoate, α-cadinol, phytone, hinesol, decanal, octadecene, cedren, 7-tetradecene, copaene, β-humulene, 2-butyl-2-octenal, tetradecane, cedrol, calacorene, 6-dodecanone, β-caryophyllene, 4-oxoisophorone, γ-nonanolactone, 2-pentylfuran, 1,2-epoxyhexadecane, carvacrol, n-pentadecane, diisobutyl phthalate, farnesene, n-heptadecane, linalool, 1-octen-3-ol, phytane, and β-asarone were selected as the potential markers for discriminating SD from 24 habitats in Zhejiang and Guizhou by partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA). This study revealed the differences in the components of SD from different regions, which could provide a reference for the future quality evaluation.