Oxidative stress and monooxygenase liver function in patients with coronary heart disease and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome:

Metabolomics study of Shenling Baizhu Powder in the treatment of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in the elderly (MODSE) with malnutrition

Malnutrition is an important risk factor for multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in the elderly (MODSE) and seriously affects the occurrence, progression and prognosis of MODSE. Shenling Baizhu Power (SBP), a classic formula from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), when integrated with enteral nutrition, has been proven to be an effective clinical strategy for treating the patients of MODSE with malnutrition. This study aimed to investigate the metabolic changes during disease occurrence and SBP treatment, and to discover potential metabolic biomarkers for the diagnosis and efficacy evaluation. An untargeted metabolomics strategy based on UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS was performed to reveal the differential serum metabolites between MODSE patients with malnutrition (n=59) and healthy controls (n=33), and those between patients treated with enteral nutrition (n=31) and SBP combined with enteral nutrition (n=28). Significantly different metabolites were identified and mapped onto the network of metabolic pathways to explore the metabolic disorders caused by the disease and the metabolic regulatory mechanism of SBP. Additionally, the area under the curve (AUC) of the potential biomarkers was investigated for predicting the disease and the efficacy of SBP. Sixty differential metabolites were identified between the disease and control groups, which were mainly related to amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. In the same way, 50 differential metabolites associated with SBP treatment were identified, which improved metabolic abnormalities in vivo mainly by regulating the above-mentioned metabolic pathways. Finally, 13 differential metabolites in common were selected as the potential biomarkers and the AUC value of each biomarker was within the range of 0.8-1.0, indicating that these biomarkers had high prediction accuracy for the diagnosis and efficacy evaluation of MODSE with malnutrition. This study demonstrates that serum metabolomics approaches based on the UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS platform can be applied as a tool to reveal the metabolic changes induced by MODSE with malnutrition and SBP can play an important role in the clinical application.

Application of transcriptome analysis: Oxidative stress, inflammation and microtubule activity disorder caused by ammonia exposure may be the primary factors of intestinal microvilli deficiency in chicken

Ammonia (NH₃), an inhaled harmful gas, is not only an important volatile in fertilizer production and ranching, but also the main basic component of haze. However, the effect and mechanism of NH₃ on the intestines are still unclear. To investigate the intestinal toxicity of NH₃ inhalation, morphological changes, transcriptome profiles and oxidative stress indicators of jejunum in broiler chicken exposed to NH₃ for 42 days were examined. Results of morphological observation showed that NH₃ exposure caused deficiency of jejunal microvilli and neutrophil infiltration. Transcriptomics sequencing identified 677 differential expressed genes (DEGs) including 358 up-regulated genes and 319 down-regulated genes. Enrichment analysis of obtained DEGs by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) found that biological functions and pathways affected by NH₃ included antioxidant function, inflammation, microtubule and nutrition transport. Relative genes validation and chemical detection confirmed that NH₃-induced oxidative stress by activating CYPs and inhibiting antioxidant enzymes promoted inflammatory response and decreased microtubule activity, thus destroying the balance of nutritional transporters. Our study perfects the injurious mechanism of NH₃ exposure and provides a new insight and method for environmental risk assessment.

Cytochrome P450-endogenous substrates metabolism is reduced in patients with a multiple organ dysfunction after coronary artery bypass grafting

Aim: To evaluate endogenous toxic substrates and liver monooxygenase function in cardiosurgical patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Methods: 45 patients with MODS and 34 patients with an uneventful postoperative period were studied. The endogenous substrates were quantified with blood middle molecules (MM). Liver monooxygenase function was evaluated with antipyrine (AP) pharmacokinetics. Results: On the first postoperative day, MODS patients were characterized by high concentration of toxic substrates (MM: +43.8%) and a significant decrease in liver monooxygenase function (AP clearance: −44%), while controls patients had a mild increase in endogenous substrates and a slight depression in monooxygenase function. On the 3rd–4th postoperative day, in the main group, endogenous substrates increased (MM: +53.1%), while in the control group toxic substrates decreased (MM: +6.9%). In both groups, an increase in liver monooxygenase function was noticed. Major differences were observed on the 10th–12th postoperative day. In the main group, toxic substrates remained elevated (MM: +37.5%) and monooxygenase function was depressed (AP clearance: −45.4%), while in the control group endogenous substrates and monooxygenase function were equal to the baseline. The correlation analysis showed a negative relationship between AP pharmacokinetics and endogenous substrates. Conclusion: Slowdown in liver microsomal oxidation is one of the main reasons for the accumulation of endogenous toxic substrates in MODS cardiac patients.