title: Metabolic Signatures of Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome and Protective Effects of Two Herbal Extracts in Rats Using GC/TOF MS.
abstract: Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome (KDS-Yang), a typical condition in Chinese medicine, shares similar clinical signs of the glucocorticoid withdrawal syndrome. To date, the underlying mechanism of KDS-Yang has been remained unclear, especially at the metabolic level. In this study, we report a metabolomic profiling study on a classical model of KDS-Yang in rats induced by hydrocortisone injection to characterize the metabolic transformation using gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. WKY1, a polysaccharide extract from Astragalus membranaceus and Lycium barbarum, and WKY2, an aqueous extract from a similar formula containing Astragalus membranaceus, Lycium barbarum, Morinda officinalis, Taraxacum mongolicum, and Cinnamomum cassia presl, were used separately for protective treatments of KDS-Yang. The changes of serum metabolic profiles indicated that significant alterations of key metabolic pathways in response to abrupt hydrocortisone perturbation, including decreased energy metabolism (lactic acid, acetylcarnitine), lipid metabolism (free fatty acids, 1-monolinoleoylglycerol, and cholesterol), gut microbiota metabolism (indole-3-propionic acid), biosynthesis of catecholamine (norepinephrine), and elevated alanine metabolism, were attenuated or normalized with different degrees by the pretreatment of WKY1 or WKY2, which is consistent with the observations in which the two herbal agents could ameliorate biochemical markers of serum cortisone, adrenocorticotropic (ACTH), and urine 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS).
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China ; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Linjing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hongbing
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authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mingfeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Runmin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xiaojiao
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authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yiting
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: Haimiao
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authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Tianlu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jiajian
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authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lina
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authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Chungwah
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jia