title: A GC-MS urinary quantitative metabolomics analysis in depressed patients treated with TCM formula of Xiaoyaosan.
abstract: Xiaoyaosan, one of the best-known traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, has been widely used in China for the treatment of mental disorders such as depression. Although both clinical application and animal experiments indicate that Xiaoyaosan has an obvious antidepressant effect, the mechanism still remains unclarified, and there are few studies quantitatively measured the biomarkers of Xiaoyaosan treatment by metabolomics to determination. In this study, 25 depressed patients and 33 healthy volunteers were recruited. A GC-MS based metabolomics approach and the multivariate statistical methods were used for analyzing the urine metabolites of depressed patients before and after treatment compared with healthy controls. Then the biomakers through metabolomics determination were carried out the quantitative analysis. In total, 5 metabolites were identified as the potential diseased and therapeutic biomarkers of depression and Xiaoyaosan. Alanine, citrate and hippurate levels were significantly increased in the urine samples from depressed patients compared with healthy controls, while phenylalanie and tyrosine levels were significantly decreased. However, after Xiaoyaosan treatment for 6 weeks, phenylalanie and tyrosine levels were significantly increased (p<0.05) and alanine, citrate and hippurate levels significantly decreased (p<0.05). Xiaoyaosan has a good priority on the treatment of depression and the ability to adjust the neurotransmitters to obtain the best treated response and also could regulate the metabolism of amino acids and promote to produce energy meet the needs of the body.
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou 423000, PR China.
authors.forename: Guo-Jiang
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, PR China.
authors.forename: Yan-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University, Chenzhou 423000, PR China.
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Physical Education Department of Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Xia
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China. Electronic address: qinxm@sxu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xue-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China; Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, PR China. Electronic address: dugh@imm.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Guan-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012015:Reference Standards
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C532268:xiaoyaosan
keywords: Depression; Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS); Metabolomics; Quantitative analysis; Xiaoyaosan