UHPLC Q-Exactive MS-based spleen metabolomics and lipidomics to explore the effect mechanisms of Danggui Buxue Decoction in anemia mice

• Published in: Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis 2020-06, Vol.185, p.113234-113234, Article 113234
• Main Authors: Liu, YueTao, Li, XinQi, Li, AiPing, Li, Ke, Qin, XueMei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anemia; Anemia - blood; Anemia - drug therapy; Animals; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - blood; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Cytosine - blood; Danggui Buxue Decoction; Disease Models, Animal; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Humans; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Lipidomics; Lipidomics - methods; Male; Mass Spectrometry - methods; Metabolomics; Mice; Palmitoylcarnitine - blood; Spleen - drug effects; Spleen - metabolism; Uracil - blood
• ISSN: 0731-7085; 1873-264X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2020.113234

•A study to reveal the efficacy of DBD against anemia.•An integrated metabolomics and lipidomics based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive MS.•Metabolic biomarkers screening based on RF, ROC and pearson matrix correlation.•Pyrimidine metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism contributed to DBD efficacy.•Cytosine, uracil and PC (o-16:1(9Z)/20:0) were potential biomarkers of DBD. Danggui Buxue Decoction (DBD), a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is often used to treat anemia in China. However, its underlying therapeutic mechanism is unclear. Through the analysis of body weight, spleen and thymus indexes, peripheral blood routine and pathological section of femur, it was obviously that DBD could significantly improve acetylphenylhydrazine (APH) + cyclophosphamide (CTX) induced anemia mice in the present work. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole – Exactive mass spectrometry (UHPLC Q-Exactive MS) based metabolomics and lipidomics was further utilized to screen out differential spleen metabolites associated with DBD treatment. A total of 26 differential metabolites including 8 polar metabolites and 18 lipids were firstly obtained to relate with anemia mice. 7 polar metabolites and 10 lipids among them were reversed by DBD, which the regulation of pyrimidine metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism were mainly associated to the anti-anemia effect of DBD based on MetaboAnalyst analysis. Through random forest analysis (RF), ROC analysis and pearson matrix correlation, three metabolites, cytosine, uracil and PC (o-16:1(9Z)/20:0), were further screened out as the potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers associated with the efficacy of DBD. This study provided a methodological reference for the study of the mechanism of TCM.