Background: Wei-Tong-Xin (WTX) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that has been screened and improved in accordance with the famous ancient Chinese formula "Wan Ying Yuan". It has been shown to be clinically effective in treating gastric dysmotility, but its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear.
Purpose: This study primarily dealt with the effects and mechanisms of WTX on functional dyspepsia (FD) induced by chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin (CIS).
Methods: Firstly, the UPLC fingerprint and multi-component determination of WTX were established. In vivo, gastrointestinal motility of mice was detected by charcoal propulsion test. Besides, H&E, western blot and qRT-PCR were performed to evaluate the occurrence of gastric antral inflammation. ROS-DHE staining was used to detect ROS levels. Further, the gut microbiota were subjected to sequencing by 16S rRNA, and the levels of bacterial metabolites short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were detected by GC-MS and Limulus kits, respectively. The levels of GLP-1 in gastric antrum were assessed by ELISA kits. Finally, siRNA-FFAR2 experiment was performed in Raw 264.7 cells.
Results: 23 common peaks were obtained from the UPLC fingerprint, and the content of 10 target components was determined. WTX increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and decreased the number of Verrucomicrobia, accompanied by changes in the levels of SCFAs and LPS. By mediating the expression changes of free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2) and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), WTX inhibited the phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), JNK and P38, decreased the levels of IL-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and ROS, increased the expressions of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), IL-4 and arginase-1 (Arg-1). Decreased expressions of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) induced by WTX promoted gastric motility in FD mice. In vitro, siRNA-FFAR2 of Raw 264.7 cells eliminated the effects of WTX on TLR4 signaling pathway.
Conclusions: In this study, the chemical profile of WTX was first reported. Based on remodeling the gut microbiota structure and adjusting the levels of metabolites (SCFAs and LPS), WTX inactivated the TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway to inhibit the occurrence of gastric antral inflammation, which reversed the inhibitory effect of GLP-1 on gastric motility, and improved CIS-induced FD symptoms.
Keywords: Cisplatin; Functional dyspepsia; Inflammation; Intestinal flora; WTX.
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