Chen Gao, Yingchun Bai, Hongbing Zhou, Hongyu Meng, Tong Wu, Wanfu Bai, Jia Wang, Liya Fan, Yuxi Yang, Hong Chang, Songli Shi
{"title":"Effects of N-butanol extract of Amygdalus mongolica on rats with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis based on metabolomics.","authors":"Chen Gao, Yingchun Bai, Hongbing Zhou, Hongyu Meng, Tong Wu, Wanfu Bai, Jia Wang, Liya Fan, Yuxi Yang, Hong Chang, Songli Shi","doi":"10.1590/1414-431X2023e13045","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a major public health issue with limited treatment options. As the active ingredient of the n-butanol extract of Amygdalus mongolica (BUT), amygdalin inhibits PF. However, its mechanisms of action are unclear and need further verification. Therefore, the purpose of the present studies was to investigate the anti-fibrotic effects of BUT on PF by serum metabolomics and the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway. Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, untreated PF, prednisone-treated (5 mg/kg), and BUT-treated (1.75, 1.25, 0.75 g/kg) groups, and the respective drugs were administered intragastrically for 21 days. The serum metabolomics profiles were determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) and metabolism network analysis. The expression of TGF-β1, Smad-3, Smad-7, and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction in the lung tissue. BUT significantly alleviated fibrosis by reducing the mRNA expressions of TGF-β1 (from 1.73 to 1.13), Smad-3 (from 2.01 to 1.19), and α-SMA (from 2.14 to 1.19) and increasing that of Smad7 (from 0.17 to 0.62). Twenty-eight potential biomarkers associated with PF were identified. In addition, four key biomarkers were restored to baseline levels following BUT treatment, with the lowest dose showing optimal effect. Furthermore, A. mongolica BUT was found to improve PF by the pentose phosphate pathway and by taurine, hypotaurine, and arachidonic acid metabolism. These findings revealed the mechanism of A. mongolica BUT antifibrotic effects and metabolic activity in PF rats and provided the experimental basis for its clinical application.</p>","PeriodicalId":9088,"journal":{"name":"Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10695158/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1414-431X2023e13045","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a major public health issue with limited treatment options. As the active ingredient of the n-butanol extract of Amygdalus mongolica (BUT), amygdalin inhibits PF. However, its mechanisms of action are unclear and need further verification. Therefore, the purpose of the present studies was to investigate the anti-fibrotic effects of BUT on PF by serum metabolomics and the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway. Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, untreated PF, prednisone-treated (5 mg/kg), and BUT-treated (1.75, 1.25, 0.75 g/kg) groups, and the respective drugs were administered intragastrically for 21 days. The serum metabolomics profiles were determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) and metabolism network analysis. The expression of TGF-β1, Smad-3, Smad-7, and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction in the lung tissue. BUT significantly alleviated fibrosis by reducing the mRNA expressions of TGF-β1 (from 1.73 to 1.13), Smad-3 (from 2.01 to 1.19), and α-SMA (from 2.14 to 1.19) and increasing that of Smad7 (from 0.17 to 0.62). Twenty-eight potential biomarkers associated with PF were identified. In addition, four key biomarkers were restored to baseline levels following BUT treatment, with the lowest dose showing optimal effect. Furthermore, A. mongolica BUT was found to improve PF by the pentose phosphate pathway and by taurine, hypotaurine, and arachidonic acid metabolism. These findings revealed the mechanism of A. mongolica BUT antifibrotic effects and metabolic activity in PF rats and provided the experimental basis for its clinical application.
期刊介绍:
The Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, founded by Michel Jamra, is edited and published monthly by the Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica (ABDC), a federation of Brazilian scientific societies:
- Sociedade Brasileira de Biofísica (SBBf)
- Sociedade Brasileira de Farmacologia e Terapêutica Experimental (SBFTE)
- Sociedade Brasileira de Fisiologia (SBFis)
- Sociedade Brasileira de Imunologia (SBI)
- Sociedade Brasileira de Investigação Clínica (SBIC)
- Sociedade Brasileira de Neurociências e Comportamento (SBNeC).