As an effective
antipyretic medicine,
Indigo Naturalis has a long history of application in the field of Chinese medicine.The content of organics,mainly
indigo and
indirubin,is about 10%. However,the active ingredients and mechanism of its
antipyretic effect have not yet been fully elucidated. In view of this,they were investigated in this study with the rectal temperature change as an
indicator and 2,4-dinitrophenol-induced
fever rats as subjects. The content of
PGE2 and c
AMP in the hypothalamus and the serum levels of TNF-α,IL-1β and
IL-6 were determined by ELISA. Moreover,the plasma samples of
fever rats were analyzed by metabonomics in combination with UPLC-Q-TOF-MS for the exploration of potential
biomarkers and the discussion on the
antipyretic mechanism of
Indigo Naturalis and its active ingredients. The results showed that the rising trend of rectal temperature in rats was suppressed 0. 5 h after the treatment with
Indigo Naturalis,organic matter,
indigo or
indirubin as compared with the rats of model group( P < 0. 05),among which
Indigo Naturalis and organic matter had better
antipyretic effect. ELISA results showed that organic matter and
indigo can inhibit the expression of
PGE2 and c
AMP( P<0. 01),while
Indigo Naturalis and organic matter were effective in curbing the increase in TNF-α( P<0. 05). A total of 21 endogenous metabolites were identified from the plasma samples of the
Indigo Naturalis,organic matter,
indigo and
indirubin groups,which were mainly involved in
glycerophospholipid metabolism.