UHPLC/Q-TOFMS-based metabolomics for the characterization of cold and hot properties of Chinese materia medica

Yang Wang; Shujun Zhou; Meng Wang; Shuying Liu; Yuanjia Hu; Chengwei He; Peng Li; Jian-Bo Wan

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.12.061

UHPLC/Q-TOFMS-based metabolomics for the characterization of cold and hot properties of Chinese materia medica

J Ethnopharmacol. 2016 Feb 17:179:234-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2015.12.061. Epub 2015 Dec 31.

Authors

Yang Wang¹, Shujun Zhou¹, Meng Wang¹, Shuying Liu², Yuanjia Hu¹, Chengwei He¹, Peng Li¹, Jian-Bo Wan³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
² Jilin Ginseng Academy, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China. Electronic address: jbwan@umac.mo.

PMID: 26747020
DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2015.12.061

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The cold/hot property of Chinese materia medica (CMM) and the application of its corresponding knowledge in the diagnosis, differentiation and treatment of diseases have been considered to be the extremely important part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As highly abstracted TCM theory, the cold/hot property of CMMs is still not fully understood and remains to be elucidated by systems biology approach. The cold and hot properties of CMM are mainly defined by the response of the body to a given CMM. Metabolomics is a promising systems biology method to profile entire endogenous metabolites and monitor their fluctuations related to an exogenous stimulus. Thus, a metabolomics approach was applied to characterize the cold and hot properties of CMMs.

Material and methods: Mice were intragastrically administered three selected cold property CMMs (i.e., Rheum palmatum L., radix et rhizoma; Coptis chinensis Franch, rhizome and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, radix) and three hot property CMMs (i.e., Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J. Presl, cortex; Zingiber officinale Roscoe, rhizoma and Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth., fructus) once daily for one week. The comprehensive metabolome changes in the plasma of mice after treatment with cold or hot property CMMs were characterized by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS), and the potential biomarkers related to cold and hot properties of CMM were explored.

Results: Metabolites perturbation in plasma occurs after treatment with cold CMMs and hot CMMs in mice, and 15 and 16 differential biomarkers were identified to be associated with the cold and hot properties of CMMs, respectively. Among them, LPC (18:0), LPC (18:1), LPC (20:4) and LPC (20:5) showed decreased trends in the cold property CMM treated groups, but increased in the hot property CMM treated groups.

Conclusions: There is a strong connection between the cold/hot property of CMMs and lysophosphatidylcholines metabolism. This study offers new insight into CMM properties and their clinical application.

Keywords: Cold/hot property; Lysophosphatidylcholines metabolism; ZHENG.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomarkers / blood
Biomarkers / metabolism
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Drugs, Chinese Herbal / pharmacology*
Female
Lysophosphatidylcholines / blood
Lysophosphatidylcholines / metabolism*
Male
Mass Spectrometry
Metabolomics*
Mice
Temperature

Substances

Biomarkers
Drugs, Chinese Herbal
Lysophosphatidylcholines