Study the mechanism of Dingchuan decoction in neutrophilic asthma mice on serum metabolomics / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:Based on the method of metabonomics, the intervention effect of Dingchuan decoction on neutrophilic asthma and its possible mechanism were analyzed from the changes of endogenous metabolites.Methods:Forty C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups normal group (group A), neutrophilic asthma model group (group B), Dingchuan decoction low dose treatment group (group C), Dingchuan decoction medium dose treatment group (group D), and Dingchuan decoction high dose treatment group (group E), with 8 mice in each group.B/C/D/E group used ovalbumin (OVA) and complete Freund′s adjuvant (CFA) to induce sensitized mice to establish neutrophilic asthma model, and C/D/E group used Dingchuan decoction with different concentrations of crude drugs for intervention treatment.Buxco small animal lung function tester was used to evaluate the airway reactivity of mice; The total number of white blood cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was counted by counting plate, and the number was classified by cell smear staining; The pathological changes of lung tissue were observed by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining.The serum metabolites of mice in each group were detected by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with four pole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). The commonly used principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models were used for statistical analysis of the metabolite profiles in serum. The intervention effect of Dingchuan decoction and its possible mechanism were reflected from the changes of endogenous metabolites.Results:(1) General behavior observation except mice in group A, mice in other groups showed asthma symptoms of different degrees during the challenge period. The symptoms of mice in each treatment group (group C, D, E) of Dingchuan decoction were less than those in group B. (2) Airway reactivity the airway reactivity of mice in group B to methacholine (MCh) increased with the inhalation concentration, and the airway resistance at each concentration of MCh was significantly higher than that in group A (all P<0.01); the airway reactivity in group C, D and E was lower than that in group B (all P<0.01); the airway reactivity in group D and E was lower than that in group C (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in airway reactivity between group D and E ( P>0.05). (3) Airway inflammatory cell infiltration the total number of white blood cells (WBC) and percentage of neutrophil in BALF of group B were significantly higher than those of group A (all P<0.01). The total WBC and percentage of neutrophil in group C, D and E were lower than those in group B (all P<0.01). The total number of WBC and percentage of neutrophil in group D and E were lower than those in group C (all P<0.01). There was no significant difference between group D and group E (all P>0.05). (4) Pathological changes of lung tissues no pathological changes were observed in the lung tissues of group A mice. In group B, typical pathological changes such as bronchial lumen stenosis, intraluminal mucosal folds hyperplasia, epithelial cell exfoliation, swelling, mucous embolus, alveolar and lung tissue structure destruction, massive inflammatory cell infiltration around bronchus and blood vessels were observed, among which neutrophil and lymphocyte infiltration were the most obvious. The damage of lung tissue structure, bronchial mucosa edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in Dingchuan decoction treatment groups were significantly improved compared with group B, and the pathological changes of lung tissue in group D were relatively light. (5) Metabolomics analysis: PCA, PLS-DA and OPLS-DA analysis of serum metabolites in each group showed that serum metabolites in group A and group B were significantly different. The metabolic pathway analysis showed that Dingchuan decoction with different crude drug concentrations could improve the metabolic disorders caused by asthma in different degrees. Conclusions:Dingchuan decoction can effectively reduce airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in mice with neutrophil asthma, and effectively regulate metabolic abnormalities caused by neutrophil asthma.