title: Effects of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Berit. on the metabolomic profiles of placenta and amniotic fluid in pregnant rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Banxia (BX) is the root of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Berit. Its processed products, such as Jiang Banxia (JBX), have been clinically used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat vomiting, coughing, and inflammation. However, data for their safety for pregnant women are contradictory and confusing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To further explore the safety of BX, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics approach was used to evaluate the metabolic perturbation in pregnant rats caused by BX and JBX.
  
  
  METHODS
  Placenta and amniotic fluid samples were collected from control Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats and exposed to BX suspension and JBX decoction (1.434g/kg/day). Samples were analyzed using LC-MS and GC-MS. The acquired MS data of above samples were further subjected to multivariate data analysis, and the significantly altered metabolites were identified. The associated pathways were constructed using MetaboAnalyst 3.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The weight and histopathology of the placenta from each group of rats had no definite difference. However, we found 20 differential endogenous metabolites that changed significantly in the placenta and amniotic fluid samples. The alterations of identified metabolites indicated a perturbation in glycerophospholipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism in pregnant rats exposed to BX and JBX.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, this work suggested that oral administration of BX and JBX may induce disturbances in the intermediary metabolism in pregnant rats. This work contributes to further understanding the safety of BX and its processed products.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China; Department of Pediatrics, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Hui
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Ya
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China; NIH West Coast Metabolomics Center, Genome Center of UC Davis, Davis 95616, USA. Electronic address: jshan@njucm.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jin-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Pediatric Respiratory Disease, Institute of Pediatrics, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: wscnj@126.com.
authors.forename: Shou-Chuan
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D030021:Pinellia / Q000737:chemistry*; D010920:Placenta / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Amniotic fluid; Metabolic disturbance; Metabolomics; Pinellia ternata; Placenta