RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the antidepressant effects and mechanisms of venlafaxine and fluoxetine by metabolomic approach. METHODS: Two positive drugs were employed to intervene the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induced rat depression model. The behavioral changes of rats were observed; meanwhile, urine samples were collected and subjected to GC-MS analysis to find potential biomarkers of depression. RESULTS: The behavioral data of the drug treatment groups were significantly different (P < 0.05) with the model group, showing obvious antidepressant effect. Metabolomic analysis showed that venlafaxine group located closer to the healthy controls, showing better antidepressant efficacy than fluoxetine. Fifteen potential biomarkers were identified from the loading plot between control and model group, and more perturbed metabolites were reversed by venlafaxine. CONCLUSION: Both drugs have significant antidepressant efficacy, and venlafaxine shows better effect. Metabolomic approach was applied in this study to analyze the regulation of biomarkers and compare the mechanisms of the two drugs. These results provide new methods for the evaluation of drug efficacy.
RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Plant metabolomics combined with GC-MS was used to investigate metabolic fingerprinting of Tussilago farfara at different growth stages.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Dried Samples were extracted by two-phase solvent system to obtain polar and nonpolar parts, which were subjected to GC-MS analysis. Metabolites were identified by NIST data base search and comparison with the authentic standards. The data were introduced into SIMCA-P 11.0 software package for multivariate analysis after pretreatment.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Fifty-four metabolites were identified, including 35 polar metabolites and 19 nonpolar compounds. The score plot for PCA showed clear separation of the different development stages of flower buds of T. farfara, showing a trend of gradual change. Samples of October, November, December were in close proximity on the plot, indicating that the metabolome of these three periods was similar, samples from September (early development) and March (after flowering) were far away, showing big chemical differences. Content comparison results of some representative metabolites reveals that, the content of proline, lysine and linoleic acid increased gradually to the highest in the medium term, but sharply decreased to the lowest after flowering; the content of malic acid and citric acid were the lowest in the medium term; sucrose content decreased gradually, and then reached the lowest level after blooming.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It is obvious that metabolites of the early development and flowering stage were quite different with those of the traditional harvest time, suggesting that they can not be used as traditional medicine. This study will provide a research basis for harvest time determination and bioactive compounds of T. farfara.</p>