Antipyretic effect of Bupleurum scorzonerifolium based on GC-MS metabonomics / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the antipyretic effect of Bupleurum scorzonerifolium based on GC-MS metabolomics and explore its mechanism. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into control, model, high-, mid-, low-dose B. scorzonerifolium extract (40, 20, and 10 g/kg), and Aspirin (100 mg/kg) positive control groups. The fever rats induced by yeast were administered twice. The body temperature changes of rats were observed at the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th hours after modeling; Meanwhile, plasma samples were collected at the 10th hour and subjected to GC-MS analysis to find potential biomarkers of fever. Results: Aspirin showed antipyretic effect well. The temperature showed no significant difference compared with the control group 2 h after administration (P > 0.05). Different doses of extract from B. scorzonerifolium showed the antipyretic effect at varying degrees, which presented the obvious dose-dependent antipyretic effect. The high-dose group had a faster onset, and there was a significant difference (P 0.05). Compared with the model group, low-dose group showed no significant differences at each time point. The body temperature showed a large fluctuation, indicating the drugs could interfere with the increase of body temperature but did not reach a significant antipyretic effect. Seventeen potential biomarkers were identified from the loading plot based on the metabolomics and the different doses of B. scorzonerifolium extract could regulate the biomarkers. Conclusion: B. scorzonerifolium has the significant antipyretic effect in a dose-dependent manner and the antipyretic role may be related to the synergism of enzyme inhibition, neurotransmitter, glucose and lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism with the multi-targets.