ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism of herb-partitioned moxibustion at umbilicus in treating primarydysmenorrhea based on metabonomics.MethodTwenty patients with primary dysmenorrhea were randomized into two groups to respectively receive herb-partitioned moxibustion at umbilicus and moxa-stick moxibustion at umbilicus. After treatment for 3 menstrualcycles, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate abdominal pain, and LC-MS-based metabonomics analysis was adopted to detect the change of plasma metabolites.ResultAfter intervention, the VAS scores decreased with the menstrual cycles in both groups. The decrease of VAS score in herb-partitioned moxibustion group was more significant than that in moxa-stick moxibustion group (P<0.05); herb-partitioned moxibustion at umbilicus up-regulated the contents of 20α-dihydroprogesterone, pregnenolone, prostaglandin E2and?-propalanine, and down-regulated the contents of estrone and prostaglandin H2in plasma; moxa-stick moxibustion decreased the content of 5’-pyridoxal phosphate.ConclusionThe two methods both can improve abdominal pain in primary dysmenorrhea, while herb-partitioned moxibustion can produce a more significant efficacy than moxa-stick moxibustion, and its effect is possibly realized via regulating estrone, progesterone, and prostaglandin.