Metabonomics study on interventions of Huangqi Jianzhong Decoction against chronic atrophic gastritis in rats / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To address the protective role Huangqi Jianzhong Decoction (HQJZ) against chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in rats with metabolites in serum, and illuminate its regulative approaches to the targets. Methods CAG rat model was constructed by alternant administrations of ammonia solution and sodium deoxycholate, combined with the hunger disorder method. Rats were randomly separated into five groups: control group, model group, positive group (teprenone), low-dose group, medium-dose group, and high-dose group of HQJZ for continuous ig administration for four weeks. Body weight, biochemical indexes, and histopathological exam were used to evaluate the efficacy of HQJZ after the model replicated successfully. 1H NMR-based metabonomics was employed to analyze the plasma metabolic features of HQJZ deviated from CAG rats. Partial least square regression analysis (PLS-RA) and MetPA analysis were utilized to explore the relevant pathways and the underlying mechanism involved in HQJZ against CAG. Results The pharmacodynamic results demonstrated that HQJZ possessed beneficial activities in treating CAG, which partially ascribed to the improvement of gastric PA and antioxidant system in vivo. A total of 18 plasma metabolites were selected as the potential biomarkers related to the development of CAG, 10 out of them including 3-hydroxybutyrate, lactate, acetate, succinate, etc. were significantly regulated by HQJZ. Three regulation pathways: arginine and proline metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, were recognized to be the most relevant efficacy of HQJZ against CAG based on PLS-RA and MetPA analysis. Conclusion The efficacy of HQJZ against CAG were ascribed to the improvement of the pathological changes due to its regulation to the energy imbalance, excessive oxidative stress, immune disorders, as well as inflammation.