Taking the mechanism of glucose catabolism disorder in depression as an example to explore the research ideas and strategies of stable isotope tracer metabolomics / 药学学报

Stable isotope tracer metabolomics tracks and analyzes the whole metabolic process of the body through the tracer atoms, which belongs to the frontier technology in the field of biomedicine. This technology is of great significance and value for explaining the pathogenesis of diseases, finding biomarkers of diseases and drug action targets. Taking the mechanism of glucose catabolism disorder in depression as an example, this paper systematically expounds the stable isotope tracer metabolomics technology and its application. The research idea of stable isotope tracer metabolomics based on unmarked metabolomics was put forward, and the research strategy of biological significance interpretation from four dimensions of metabolite isotope abundance, key metabolic enzymes, metabolic flow direction and metabolite flow was given, which broke through the bottleneck of stable isotope tracer metabolomics research technology based on overall animal experiment, and provided scientific basis for the promotion and application of this technology.

Pathogenesis of chronic social defeat stress model induced depressive-like mouse model according to LC-MS/MS-based metabolomics / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To explore the pathogenesis of depression according to the LC-MS/MS-based metabolo?mics in the mouse model which exhibits social avoidance state induced by the chronic social defeat stress model (CSDS). METHODS Twenty male C57BL/6N mice were randomly divided into control group and model group suffering CSDS, and the ICR retired breeder mice were used to attack the model group for 14 d of chronic social defeated stress. The open field test and source preference test were both used to observe depression-like behavior. Besides, the social inter?action test is used to observe the social interaction state, especially. After the stress, the serum samples of mice were collected, and the changes of endogenous metabolites were analyzed by LC-MS metabolomics technology, and the pathway analysis of the differential metabolites was performed to explore the pathogenesis of the CSDS induced depres?sive-like mouse model. RESULTS After the stress of CSDS was completed, the mice in the model group showed a significant slowdown in body weight growth, a reduction in the source preference rate, and a significant reduction in the total distance and the number of rearing in the open field test. Distinctively, the social interaction rate is remarkably decreasing. There are 24 differential metabolites found in the serum of CSDS model mice. CONCLUSION The mouse who suffered CSDS stress would show depressive-like behavior. Based on the LC-MS/MS metabolomics, 24 differential metabolites were found in the serum of CSDS model mice. The amino acid metabolism might be significant to the patho?genesis of the CSDS induced depressive-like mouse model.

Metabolic module identification and biological mechanism of Xiaoyaosan for treatment of depression / 药学学报

The antidepressant effect of Xiaoyaosan has been demonstrated. It is of value to explore the biological mechanism of Xiaoyaosan in the treatment of depression from the perspective of functional modules by using the method of functional module division of the metabolic network. The differential metabolites and related enzymes and proteins regulated by Xiaoyaosan were identified in the database. Pathway enrichment analysis and crosstalk pathway analysis of Xiaoyaosan regulated metabolites was carried out. A network of differentially regulated metabolites and their enzymes and proteins was constructed by using the STRING tool. The CNM decomposition algorithm was used to extract the functional modules of the network and enrichment analysis of functional modules was carried out. The results show that Xiaoyaosan regulates 97 differential metabolites, 234 related enzymes and 258 depression-related proteins. The pathways crosstalk analysis was divided into two sub-networks, one of which is related to the neural system and cell signal transduction, the other is related to the endocrine system and metabolic pathways. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the network and 9 functional modules extracted by the CNM algorithm shows that module 1 and module 3 belong to the pathways that can be enriched into more pathways with fewer proteins. The corresponding functions of these pathways include the endocrine system, amino acid metabolism, the nervous system and signal transduction. In this study, pathway crosstalk analysis and metabolic network module division strategies were used to explain the biological mechanism of Xiaoyaosan in the treatment of depression, providing ideas and methods for in-depth study of the pharmacological mechanism of this traditional Chinese medicine from the perspective of metabolic regulation.

The key role of mitochondrial energy metabolism disorder in the pathogenesis of depression / 药学学报

Depression is a common mental illness with mood disorders as the main clinical feature. In recent years numerous studies have shown that mitochondrial function and structure are abnormal in patients with depression, and changes in mitochondrial ultrastructure can lead to energy metabolism disorders in the body. It is suggested that 'mitochondrial energy metabolism disorder' may be the pathogenesis of depression. This paper reviews the intrinsic association of mitochondrial energy metabolism with depression and notes potential mechanisms from the standpoint of mitochondrial structure and function on the molecular level. We provide a reference for understanding the pathogenesis of depression and identifying the possible targets of antidepressant drugs.