A Cell-Based Metabonomics Approach to Investigate the Varied Influences of Chrysophanol-8-O-β-D-Glucoside With Different Concentrations on L-02 Cells

Identification of Efficacy-Associated Markers to Discriminate Flos Chrysanthemum and Flos Chrysanthemi Indici Based on Fingerprint-Activity Relationship Modeling: A Combined Evaluation over Chemical Consistence and Quality Consistence

Monitoring the quality consistency of traditional Chinese medicines, or herbal medicines (HMs), is the basis of assuring the efficacy and safety of HMs during clinical applications. The purpose of this work was to characterize the difference in hydrophilic antioxidants and related bioactivities between Flos Chrysanthemum (JH) and its wild relatives (Chrysanthemum indicum L.; YJH) based on the establishment of fingerprint-efficacy relationship modeling. The concentrations of the total phenolics and flavonoids of JH samples were shown to be generally higher than those of YJH, but the concentration distribution ranges of YJH were significantly greater compared to JH samples, possibly related to environmental stress factors leading to the concentration fluctuations of phytochemicals during the growth and flowering of Chrysanthemum cultivars. Correspondingly, the total antioxidant capabilities of JH were greatly higher than those of YJH samples, as revealed by chemical assays, including DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities and FRAP assays. In addition, cellular-based antioxidant activities confirmed the results of chemical assays, suggesting that the differences in antioxidant activities among the different types of Chrysanthemums were obvious. The extracts from YJH and JH samples showed significant α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and lipase-inhibitory activity, implying the modulatory effects on lipid and glucose metabolisms, which were also confirmed by an untargeted cell-based metabolomics approach. The selected common peaks by similarity analysis contributed to the discrimination of YJH and JH samples, and the modeling of the fingerprint-bioactivity relationship identified neochlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid A, and linarin as efficacy-associated chemical markers. These results have demonstrated that integrating HPLC fingerprints and the analysis of similarity indexes coupled with antioxidant activities and enzyme-inhibitory activities provides a rapid and effective approach to monitoring the quality consistency of YJH/JH samples.

Innovative Application of Metabolomics on Bioactive Ingredients of Foods

Metabolomics, as a new omics technology, has been widely accepted by researchers and has shown great potential in the field of nutrition and health in recent years. This review briefly introduces the process of metabolomics analysis, including sample preparation and extraction, derivatization, separation and detection, and data processing. This paper focuses on the application of metabolomics in food-derived bioactive ingredients. For example, metabolomics techniques are used to analyze metabolites in food to find bioactive substances or new metabolites in food materials. Moreover, bioactive substances have been tested in vitro and in vivo, as well as in humans, to investigate the changes of metabolites and the underlying metabolic pathways, among which metabolomics is used to find potential biomarkers and targets. Metabolomics provides a new approach for the prevention and regulation of chronic diseases and the study of the underlying mechanisms. It also provides strong support for the development of functional food or drugs. Although metabolomics has some limitations such as low sensitivity, poor repeatability, and limited detection range, it is developing rapidly in general, and also in the field of nutrition and health. At the end of this paper, we put forward our own insights on the development prospects of metabolomics in the application of bioactive ingredients in food.

Pharmacokinetics, Tissue Distribution, and Excretion Characteristics of a Radix Polygoni Multiflori Extract in Rats

Although progress has been achieved in the pharmacological activity and toxicity of Radix Polygoni Multiflori (RPM), the chemical basis of its toxicity is still unclear. Here, we performed a multicompound pharmacokinetic analysis and investigated the tissue distribution and excretion characteristics of RPM components after oral administration in rats. The findings demonstrated that the active ingredients of the RPM extract were quickly absorbed after oral administration, with high exposure levels of emodin, 2,3,5,4′-teterahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-D-glucoside (TSG), citreorosein, torachrysone-8-O-glucoside (TG), emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside (EG), and physcion-8-O-β-D-glucoside (PG). The tissue distributions of emodin, TSG, TG, EG, and PG were high in the liver and kidney. These components were the key contributors to the effectiveness and toxicity of RPM on the liver and kidney. Most of the active ingredients were mainly excreted through feces and bile, while a few were converted into other products in the body and excreted through urine and feces.

Changes of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Kidney and Liver Injuries in Rats Based on Metabolomics Analysis

Background

The bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was the classic inducer to establish many inflammatory disease models, especially multiple organ injury. Evidences indicated that the mechanism that causes inflammation response is not just related to cytokine release. The main aim of this study was to better elucidate the possible links between metabolic changes and the pathogenesis of LPS-induced acute liver and kidney in order to understand the mechanisms and screening therapeutic targets for developing early diagnostic strategies and treatments.

Methods

An experimental rat model was established by intraperitoneal injection of 10 mg/kg LPS. An untargeted metabolomics analysis of the serum in the LPS and control groups was carried out using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/QTOF-MS). LPS-induced pathological damage in the lungs, liver, kidneys, and colon was observed, along with changes in biochemical indexes, indicating that there was a severe inflammatory response in many organs after administration of LPS for 8 h. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) showed distinct separation in the serum metabolite profiles between the LPS and control groups, indicating significant changes in endogenous metabolites.

Results

The untargeted metabolomics analysis showed that there were 127 significantly different serum metabolites and 53 altered pathways after LPS administration, including pathways related to the metabolism of D-glutamine and D-glutamate, taurine and hypotaurine, beta-alanine, glutathione, and butanoate, which are involved in the inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and amino acid metabolism.

Conclusion

The study suggested that LPS-induced acute liver and kidney injury mainly involves inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and protein synthesis, finally causing multi-organ damage. Correcting the disturbances to the metabolites and metabolic pathways may help to prevent and/or treat LPS-induced acute liver and kidney damage.

Distinct metabonomic signatures of Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata against glucolipid metabolic disorders

OBJECTIVES

Glucolipid metabolic disorders (GLMD) promote a series of major chronic diseases. Polygoni Multilori Radix Preparata (PMRP) has been widely acknowledged in the prevention and treatment of GLMD. We previously reported that water extract (WE) of PMRP and its major bioactive constituents such as polysaccharides (POL) and 2,3,5,4´-tetrahydroxy-stilbene-2-O-β-D-glucoside (TSG) could alleviate GLMD. The mitochondrial dysfunction is an important mechanism of GLMD, but the underlying mechanisms behind the regulation of mitochondria to alleviate GLMD by WE, POL from PMRP and TSG are still unknown.

METHODS

In this study, we elucidated the effects of WE, POL, and TSG towards regulating the mitochondrial dysfunction and alleviating GLMD using mitochondrial metabonomics. A rat model of GLMD was established by high-sugar and high-fat (HS-HF) diet. Rats were intragastrically given WE, POL, and TSG for 12 weeks. The liver mitochondrial metabolites were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry followed by multivariate statistical analysis to identify the differential metabolites and metabolic pathways.

KEY FINDINGS

The WE, POL, and TSG could significantly restore the level of endogenous metabolites in liver mitochondria toward normal status. In total, sixteen, seven, and fourteen differential metabolites were identified in the liver mitochondrial samples obtained from the WE, GOL, and TSG groups, respectively. These metabolites were found to be mainly involved in glycerol phospholipid, histidine, alanine, aspartic acid, glutamate metabolism, and arginine biosynthesis.

CONCLUSIONS

PMRP could improve the liver mitochondrial function by regulating the mitochondrial metabolic pathways to alleviate GLMD. Therefore, the application of PMRP might be a promising mitochondrial regulator/nutrient for alleviating GLMD-associated diseases and the mitochondrial metabonomics might provide insights into the evaluation of the efficacies and mechanisms of action of drugs.

Contribution of anthocyanin pathways to fruit flesh coloration in pitayas

BACKGROUND

Color formation in Hylocereus spp. (pitayas) has been ascribed to the accumulation of betalains. However, several studies have reported the presence of anthocyanins in pitaya fruit and their potential role in color formation has not yet been explored. In this study, we profiled metabolome and transcriptome in fruit of three cultivars with contrasting flesh colors (red, pink and white) to investigate their nutritional quality and the mechanism of color formation involving anthocyanins.

RESULTS

Results revealed that pitaya fruit is enriched in amino acid, lipid, carbohydrate, polyphenols, vitamin and other bioactive components with significant variation among the three cultivars. Anthocyanins were detected in the fruit flesh and accumulation levels of Cyanidin 3-glucoside, Cyanidin 3-rutinoside, Delphinidin 3-O-(6-O-malonyl)-beta-glucoside-3-O-beta-glucoside and Delphinidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside 5-O-(6-coumaroyl-beta-D-glucoside) positively correlated with the reddish coloration. Transcriptome data showed that the white cultivar tends to repress the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway and divert substrates to other competing pathways. This perfectly contrasted with observations in the red cultivar. The pink cultivar however seems to keep a balance between the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway and the competing pathways. We identified several active transcription factors of the MYB and bHLH families which can be further investigated as potential regulators of the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, our results suggest that anthocyanins partly contribute to color formation in pitaya fruit. Future studies aiming at manipulating the biosynthetic pathways of anthocyanins and betalains will better clarify the exact contribution of each pathway in color formation in pitayas. This will facilitate efforts to improve pitaya fruit quality and appeal.

Screening Bioactive Compounds of Siraitia grosvenorii by Immobilized β2-Adrenergic Receptor Chromatography and Druggability Evaluation

As the first and key step of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-guided drug development, lead discovery necessitates continuous exploration of new methodology for screening bioactive compounds from TCM. This work intends to establish a strategy for rapidly recognizing β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) target compounds from the fruit of Siraitia grosvenorii (LHG). The method involved immobilization of β2-AR onto amino-microsphere to synthesize the receptor column, the combination of the column to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to screen bioactive compounds of LHG, the identification of the compounds by HPLC coupled with mass spectrometry (MS), and the evaluation of druggability through pharmacokinetic examination by HPLC-MS/MS. Mogroside V was screened and identified as the β2-AR-targeted bioactive compounds in LHG. This compound exhibited desired pharmacokinetic behavior including the time to reach peak plasma concentrations of 45 min, the relatively low elimination of 138.5 min, and the high bioavailability. These parameters indicated that mogroside V has a good druggability for the development of new drugs fighting β2-AR-mediated respiratory ailments like asthma. The combination of the methods in this work is probably becoming a powerful strategy for screening and early evaluating the bioactive compounds specifically binding to G-protein-coupled receptor target from complex matrices including TCM.