Metabolomics of the Antipyretic Effects of Bubali Cornu (Water Buffalo Horn) in Rats

• Published in: PloS one 2016-07, Vol.11 (7), p.e0158478-e0158478
• Main Authors: Liu, Rui, Huang, Qiong, Shan, Jinjun, Duan, Jin-Ao, Zhu, Zhenhua, Liu, Pei, Bian, Yong, Shang, Er-Xin, Qian, Dawei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Amino acids; Analysis; Animal experimentation; Animals; Antipyretics - pharmacology; Arachidonic acid; Biological Products - pharmacology; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - metabolism; Body Temperature; Care and treatment; Chinese medicine; Chromatography; Collaboration; Cornus; Engineering; Fever; Heat treatment; Herbal medicine; High performance liquid chromatography; High technology; Horns - chemistry; Inflammation; Innovations; Laboratories; Lipid metabolism; Liquid chromatography; Male; Mass Spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Medicine and Health Sciences; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Metabolism; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Multivariate Analysis; Multivariate statistical analysis; Oxidative metabolism; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Principal Component Analysis; Quadrupoles; R&D; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Research & development; Rodents; Scientific imaging; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Traditional Chinese medicine; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Urine; Water buffalo; Yeast; Yeasts
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158478

Bubali Cornu (water buffalo horn, WBH) has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as an effective treatment for heat. In the present study, we have carried out a metabolomics profiling study on plasma and urine samples to explore potential biomarkers and determine how WBH exerts its antipyretic effects in yeast-induced pyrexia at a metabolomic level. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS), together with multivariate statistical analysis, was used to detect and identify potential biomarkers associated with pyrexia and with WBH treatment. In total, sixteen endogenous metabolites were identified in plasma samples and twenty-one metabolites were detected in urine samples. The biomarkers identified in this study, using metabolic pathway analysis (MetPA), are involved in glycerophospholipid, arachidonic acid, amino acid, sphingolipid, and purine metabolism, all of which are disturbed in rats with pyrexia. As a result, WBH affect arachidonic acid metabolism and oxidative stress in yeast-induced pyrexia rats chiefly. The present study determines the important substances underlying the antipyretic efficacy of WBH at a metabolic level. It might pave the way for further investigations into the mechanisms of action of other animal horn-derived traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs).