title: UHPLC/Q-TOFMS-based metabolomics for the characterization of cold and hot properties of Chinese materia medica.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The cold/hot property of Chinese materia medica (CMM) and the application of its corresponding knowledge in the diagnosis, differentiation and treatment of diseases have been considered to be the extremely important part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As highly abstracted TCM theory, the cold/hot property of CMMs is still not fully understood and remains to be elucidated by systems biology approach. The cold and hot properties of CMM are mainly defined by the response of the body to a given CMM. Metabolomics is a promising systems biology method to profile entire endogenous metabolites and monitor their fluctuations related to an exogenous stimulus. Thus, a metabolomics approach was applied to characterize the cold and hot properties of CMMs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mice were intragastrically administered three selected cold property CMMs (i.e., Rheum palmatum L., radix et rhizoma; Coptis chinensis Franch, rhizome and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, radix) and three hot property CMMs (i.e., Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J. Presl, cortex; Zingiber officinale Roscoe, rhizoma and Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth., fructus) once daily for one week. The comprehensive metabolome changes in the plasma of mice after treatment with cold or hot property CMMs were characterized by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS), and the potential biomarkers related to cold and hot properties of CMM were explored.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Metabolites perturbation in plasma occurs after treatment with cold CMMs and hot CMMs in mice, and 15 and 16 differential biomarkers were identified to be associated with the cold and hot properties of CMMs, respectively. Among them, LPC (18:0), LPC (18:1), LPC (20:4) and LPC (20:5) showed decreased trends in the cold property CMM treated groups, but increased in the hot property CMM treated groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a strong connection between the cold/hot property of CMMs and lysophosphatidylcholines metabolism. This study offers new insight into CMM properties and their clinical application.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Shujun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jilin Ginseng Academy, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Shuying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuanjia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Chengwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, PR China. Electronic address: jbwan@umac.mo.
authors.forename: Jian-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D055432:Metabolomics; D051379:Mice; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines
keywords: Cold/hot property; Lysophosphatidylcholines metabolism; ZHENG