Urine metabolic profile changes of CCl4-liver fibrosis in rats and intervention effects of Yi Guan Jian Decoction using metabonomic approach.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Yi Guan Jian Decoction (YGJD), a famous Chinese prescription, has long been employed clinically to treat liver fibrosis. However, as of date, there is no report on the effects of YGJD from a metabonomic approach. In this study, a urine metabonomic method based on gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was employed to study the protective efficacy and metabolic profile changes caused by YGJD in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis.

METHODS:

Urine samples from Wistar rats of three randomly divided groups (control, model, and YGJD treated) were collected at various time-points, and the metabolic profile changes were analyzed by GC/MS with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA). Furthermore, histopathology and biochemical examination were also carried out to ensure the success of CCl4-induced liver fibrosis model.

RESULTS:

Urine metabolic profile studies suggested distinct clustering of the three groups, and YGJD group was much closer to the control group by showing a tendency of recovering towards the control group. Fourteen significantly changed metabolites were found, and YGJD treatment could reverse the levels of these metabolites to normal levels or close to normal levels.

CONCLUSIONS:

The current study indicates that the YGJD has significant anti-fibrotic effects on CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in rats, which might be by regulating the dysfunction of energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, cytochrome P450 metabolism, and gut microflora metabolism. The metabonomic approach can be recommended to study the pharmacological effect and mechanism of complex Chinese medicines.

• Authors: Xiaojun Gou, Qing Tao, Qin Feng, Jinghua Peng, Yu Zhao, Jianye Dai, Wenyu Wang, Yongyu Zhang, Yiyang Hu, Ping Liu
• Journal: BMC complementary and alternative medicine (BMC Complement Altern Med) Vol. 13 Pg. 123 (Jun 03 2013) ISSN: 1472-6882 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 23725349 (Publication Type: Evaluation Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Drugs, Chinese Herbal
• Yi Guan Jian Decoction
• Carbon Tetrachloride

Topics

• Animals
• Carbon Tetrachloride (adverse effects)
• Drug Monitoring (methods)
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal (administration & dosage)
• Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
• Humans
• Liver Cirrhosis (chemically induced, drug therapy, metabolism)
• Male
• Metabolome
• Rats
• Rats, Wistar
• Urine (chemistry)