title: Metabolic profiling reveals therapeutic effects of Herba Cistanches in an animal model of hydrocortisone-induced 'kidney-deficiency syndrome'.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Herba Cistanches (Roucongrong) is effective in treating Shenxu Zheng ('kidney-deficiency syndrome'). However, the mechanisms and systemic metabolic responses to the herbal intervention are unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using GC-MS-based metabolic profiling, we investigated the metabolic responses to Herba Cistanches intervention in a rat model of the hydrocortisone-induced 'kidney-deficiency syndrome'.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The metabolic profiles of the rats after hydrocortisone injection deviated from the pre-dose metabolic state at different time points, ranging from day 1 to day 10, whereas the metabolic profiles of the rats treated with both hydrocortisone and water extract of Herba Cistanches returned to the pre-dose state on day 10.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intervention of Herba Cistanches caused a systemic recovery from the hydrocortisone-induced metabolic perturbation in rats. This study also demonstrates that metabolic profiling is useful in studying therapeutic mechanisms of herbal medicines.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. qyp29@sjtu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Yunping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Minjun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Guoxiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mingmei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jia