Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2018; 24(48): 5505-5524
Published online Dec 28, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i48.5505
Integrated metabolomic profiling for analysis of antilipidemic effects of Polygonatum kingianum extract on dyslipidemia in rats
Xing-Xin Yang, Jia-Di Wei, Jian-Kang Mu, Xin Liu, Jin-Cai Dong, Lin-Xi Zeng, Wen Gu, Jing-Ping Li, Jie Yu
Xing-Xin Yang, Jia-Di Wei, Jian-Kang Mu, Jin-Cai Dong, Lin-Xi Zeng, Wen Gu, Jing-Ping Li, Jie Yu, College of Pharmaceutical Science, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China
Xin Liu, Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Beijing 100026, China
Author contributions: Yang XX and Yu J designed the research; Yang XX, Wei JD and Dong JC performed the research; Liu X contributed analytic tools; Zeng LX, Gu W and Li JP analyzed the data; Yang XX, Wei JD and Mu JK wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81660596 and No. 81760733; the Application and Basis Research Project of Yunnan, China, No. 2016FD050 and No. 2017FF117-013; and the Fund for Young and Middle-aged Academic and Technological Leaders of Yunnan, No. 2015HB053.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: Approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee on Animal Care and Experimentations of Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was obtained for this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no duality of interest associated with this manuscript.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors had read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jie Yu, PhD, Professor, College of Pharmaceutical Science, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1076 Yuhua Road, Kunming 650500, Yunnan Province, China. cz.yujie@gmail.com
Telephone: +86-871-65933303 Fax: +86-871-65933303
Received: September 25, 2018
Peer-review started: September 25, 2018
First decision: October 24, 2018
Revised: October 31, 2018
Accepted: November 16, 2018
Article in press: November 16, 2018
Published online: December 28, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for many vicious diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Developing dyslipidemia regulators from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) to remedy lipid disorders represents attractive strategies for disease therapy. In China, Polygonatum kingianum (P. kingianum) has been used as an herb and nutritional food for centuries. Known pharmacological activities of P. kingianum include immune system stimulation, anti-aging effects and blood glucose regulation.

Research motivation

To date, studies on the effects of P. kingianum on dyslipidemia and the mechanism for these effects have not been investigated.

Research objectives

We aimed to identify the effects and mechanism of action of P. kingianum on dyslipidemia using an integrated untargeted metabolomic method.

Research methods

A rat model of dyslipidemia was induced with a high-fat diet (HFD) and rats were given P. kingianum [4 g/(kg•day)] intragastrically for 14 wk. Changes in serum and hepatic lipid parameters were evaluated. Metabolites in serum, urine and liver samples were profiled using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry followed by multivariate statistical analysis to identify potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways.

Research results

P. kingianum significantly inhibited the HFD-induced increase in total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol in serum, and total cholesterol and triglyceride in the liver. P. kingianum also reduced hepatic high density lipoprotein cholesterol. P. kingianum significantly regulated metabolites in the analyzed samples toward normal status. Nineteen, twenty-four and thirty-eight potential biomarkers were identified in serum, urine and liver samples, respectively. These biomarkers involved 11 main metabolic pathways, including seven in serum and in the liver, and one in urine.

Research conclusions

P. kingianum alleviated HFD-induced dyslipidemia by regulating many endogenous metabolites in serum, urine and liver samples. This involved phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, and tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine, starch, sucrose, glycerophospholipid, arachidonic acid, linoleic acid, nicotinate, nicotinamide and sphingolipid metabolism.

Research perspectives

P. kingianum may be a promising lipid regulator to treat dyslipidemia and associated diseases.