[Analysis of plasma metabonomics of mini-swines with qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome due to chronic myocardial ischemia]

Buyang Huanwu Decoction alleviates blood stasis, platelet activation, and inflammation and regulates the HMGB1/NF-κB pathway in rats with pulmonary fibrosis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Qi deficiency and blood stasis are identified to be pathological factors of pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory. Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) is a traditional Chinese prescription ameliorating Qi deficiency and blood stasis.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study was to investigate the anti-fibrosis effect of BYHWD and the potential molecular mechanism in rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Bleomycin was used to construct PF rat models. 27 PF rats were randomly divided into three groups based on treatments: model group (saline solution, n = 9), low-dose BYHWD group (3.5 g/kg, n = 9), and high-dose BYHWD group (14.0 g/kg, n = 9). Moreover, 9 normal rats were used as the blank group. The blood viscosity, coagulation indexes (APTT, TT, PT, and FIB), platelet-related parameters (PLT, PDW, MPV, PCT, and PLCR), platelet microparticles (PMPs), and inflammatory factors (IL-2, IL-10, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17, IFN-γ, TNF-α, PAC-1, HMGB1, NF-κB, and TF) were determined. The lung tissue samples of rats were observed after hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The full component analysis of the BYHWD extract was performed using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method. The signaling pathway included into the study was selected on the basis of bioinformatics analysis and the results of the phytochemical analysis. The expression levels of genes and proteins involved in the selected signaling pathway were detected.

RESULTS

Compared to the blank group, the whole blood viscosity, PLR, PDW, MPV, PCT, PLCR, PMPs, and the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17, TNF-α, PAC-1, HMGB1, NF-κB, and TF were increased, while the levels of IL-2 and IL-10 were decreased in the model group. Both low-dose BYHWD and high-dose BYHWD reversed these PF-induced effects in spite of the fact that low-dose BYHWD had no significant effect on the level of NF-κB. In addition, BYHWD ameliorated PF-induced inflammation in the rat lung tissue. The phytochemical analysis of the BYHWD extract combined with the bioinformatics analysis suggested that the therapeutical effect of BYHWD on PF was related to the HMGB1/NF-κB pathway, which consisted of NF-κB, IKBKB, ICAM1, VCAM1, HMGB1, and TLR4. Both RT-qPCR and western blot analyses showed that PF induced increases in the expression levels of NF-κB, ICAM1, VCAM1, HMGB1, and TLR4, but a decrease in the expression level of IKBKB. Moreover, both low-dose BYHWD and high-dose BYHWD exerted the opposite effects, and recovered the expression levels of NF-κB, ICAM1, VCAM1, HMGB1, TLR4, and IKBKB, despite the fact that low-dose BYHWD had no effects on the mRNA expression levels of NF-κB or TLR4.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, BYHWD alleviated PF-induced blood stasis, platelet activation, and inflammation in the rats. Our study suggested BYHWD had a therapeutic effect on PF and was a good alternative for the complementary therapy of PF, and the potential molecular mechanism was modulation of HMGB1/NF-κB signaling pathway, and it needs further study.

A Metabonomics Profiling Study on Phlegm Syndrome and Blood-Stasis Syndrome in Coronary Heart Disease Patients Using Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

A metabonomics approach based on liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF/MS) was utilized to obtain potential biomarkers of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and investigate the ZHENG types differentiation in CHD patients. The plasma samples of 20 CHD patients with phlegm syndrome, 20 CHD patients with blood-stasis syndrome, and 16 healthy volunteers were collected in the study. 26 potential biomarkers were identified in the plasma of CHD patients and 19 differential metabolites contributed to the discrimination of phlegm syndrome and blood-stasis syndrome in CHD patients (VIP > 1.5; P < 0.05) which mainly involved purine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, amino acid metabolism, steroid biosynthesis, and arachidonic acid metabolism. This study demonstrated that metabonomics approach based on LC-MS was useful for studying pathologic changes of CHD patients and interpreting the differentiation of ZHENG types (phlegm and blood-stasis syndrome) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Plasma metabonomics study on Chinese medicine syndrome evolution of heart failure rats caused by LAD ligation

BACKGROUND

Chinese medicine syndromes (Zheng) in many disease models are not clearly characterized or validated, and the concepts of Chinese medicine syndromes are confounding and controversial. Metabonomics has been applied to the evaluation and classification of the Chinese medicine syndromes both in clinical and nonclinical studies. In this study, we aim to investigate the evolution of the Chinese medicine syndrome in myocardial infarction induced heart failure and to confirm the feasibility of the Zheng classification by plasma metabonomics in a syndrome and disease combination animal model.

METHODS

The heart failure (HF) model was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) in Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were divided into the following two groups: the HF model group (LAD ligation) and the sham operated group. GC-MS was used with pattern recognition technology and principal component analysis (PCA) to analyze the plasma samples at 4, 21 and 45 day after operation.

RESULTS

It was determined that the period from 7 to 28 days was the stable time window of ischemic heart failure with qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome (QDBS), and the qi deficiency syndrome occurred at 1 to 4 days and 45 to 60 days after operation. The results exhibited 5 plasma metabolite changes in the same trend at 4 and 21 day after the LAD operation, 7 at 21 and 45 day, and 2 at 4 and 45 day. No metabolite showed the same change at all of the 3 time points. At day 21 (the QDBS syndrome time point) after operation, 4 plasma metabolites showed the same trends with the results of our previous study on patients with the blood stasis syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

The syndrome diagnosis is reliable in the HF rat model in this study. Plasma metabolites can provide a basis for the evaluation of Chinese medicine syndrome animal models.

Model organisms and traditional chinese medicine syndrome models

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system with a unique cultural background. Nowadays, more and more Western countries due to its therapeutic efficacy are accepting it. However, safety and clear pharmacological action mechanisms of TCM are still uncertain. Due to the potential application of TCM in healthcare, it is necessary to construct a scientific evaluation system with TCM characteristics and benchmark the difference from the standard of Western medicine. Model organisms have played an important role in the understanding of basic biological processes. It is easier to be studied in certain research aspects and to obtain the information of other species. Despite the controversy over suitable syndrome animal model under TCM theoretical guide, it is unquestionable that many model organisms should be used in the studies of TCM modernization, which will bring modern scientific standards into mysterious ancient Chinese medicine. In this review, we aim to summarize the utilization of model organisms in the construction of TCM syndrome model and highlight the relevance of modern medicine with TCM syndrome animal model. It will serve as the foundation for further research of model organisms and for its application in TCM syndrome model.

Traditional Chinese medicine ZHENG and Omics convergence: a systems approach to post-genomics medicine in a global world

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a comprehensive system of medical practice that has been used to diagnose, treat, and prevent illnesses for more than 3000 years. ZHENG (also known as "syndrome") differentiation remains the essence of TCM. In China, TCM shares equal status, and integrated with Western medicine in the healthcare system to treat many types of diseases. Yet, compared to biomolecular science and Western medicine, the ZHENG/TCM approach to diagnostics might appear unobjective, but offers at the same time long-standing clinical and phenotypic-rich insights. With the current globalization of life sciences and the arrival of "Big Data" research and development, these two silos of medical lore are rapidly coalescing. The applications of multi-omics strategies to TCM have begun to provide novel insights into the essence and molecular basis of TCM ZHENG. We searched the Chinese electronic databases and PubMed for published articles related to "Omics" and "TCM ZHENG" and observed a dramatic increase in studies over the past few years. In this article, we provide a timely synthesis of the lessons learned, and the emerging applications of omics science in TCM ZHENG research. We suggest that the global health scholarship and the field of "developing world Omics" can usefully draw from TCM, and vice versa.

Metabolomics study of intervention effects of Wen-Xin-Formula using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry coupled with pattern recognition approach

Metabolomics is a new approach based on the systematic study of the full complement of small molecular metabolites in a biological sample. It could map the perturbations of early biochemical changes on diseases and hence provides an opportunity to develop predictive biomarkers that can result in earlier intervention and possess valuable insights into the mechanisms of diseases. Given the poor diagnosis of myocardial ischemia syndrome (heart-qi deficiency, HQD), biomarkers of great significance are urgently needed. Fortunately, metabolomics may offer the possibility of identifying marker metabolites and pathways activated in HQD. This paper was designed to explore globally metabolomics characters of the HQD and the therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine Wen-Xin-Formula (WXF). Serum biochemical analysis and histopathological examinations were simultaneously performed. Global metabolic profiling with UHPLC/MS (ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry), multivariate analysis and database searching were performed to discover differentiating metabolites. Seventeen biomarkers were identified and pathway analysis tools suggest that the glycolysis or gluconeogenesis metabolism, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis and purine metabolism networks were acutely perturbed by HQD. Of note, WXF has potential pharmacological effect through regulating multiple perturbed pathways to normal state, correlates well to the assessment of biochemistry and histopathological assay. Overall, this study successfully demonstrated that the power of metabolomics in unraveling protective effects of WXF and these findings may help better understand the mechanisms of disease, and the underlying pathophysiologic processes.

[Study of the syndromes of traditional Chinese medicine in terms of metabonomics technology: the current situation and considerations]

Syndromes constitute a core aspect in the study of Chinese medicine, and research on the concept of syndromes is important to the study of the process of modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. However, it is somewhat challenging to define a syndrome due to the complexity inherent in the subject, even with the assistance of the reductionism approach of modern medicine. Holistic and dynamic in nature and attaching much importance to functional changes, the newly emerging metabonomics is in many ways inline with the concepts of syndrome differentiation of pathological states in traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, metabonomics has comparatively strong advantages in the very respect of revealing the natural laws of syndrome differentiation. By reviewing and analyzing the current research on the concept of syndromes and the application of metabonomic technology to exploring the essential core of syndrome differentiation, the authors illustrated the potential commonalities. This would also show the issues requiring attention between the study of syndromes and the metabonomic technology. In the meantime this study reflected the core problems in detail and put forward suggestions with regard to reaching solutions.