title: 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.affiliation: Institute of Liver Disease, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gou
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Jinghua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jianye
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yiyang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride / Q000009:adverse effects; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D055442:Metabolome; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C539461:Yi Guan Jian Decoction; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride