Targets and Effective Constituents of ZhiziBaipi Decoction for Treating Damp-Heat Jaundice Syndrome Based on Chinmedomics Coupled with UPLC-MS/MS

Wen-Feng Wei; Hui Sun; Shao-Bo Liu; Sheng-Wen Lu; Ai-Hua Zhang; Wan-Ying Wang; Wen-Jun Chai; Fang-Fang Wu; Guang-Li Yan; Yu Guan; Xi-Jun Wang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.857361

Targets and Effective Constituents of ZhiziBaipi Decoction for Treating Damp-Heat Jaundice Syndrome Based on Chinmedomics Coupled with UPLC-MS/MS

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Apr 5:13:857361. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.857361. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Wen-Feng Wei¹, Hui Sun¹, Shao-Bo Liu¹, Sheng-Wen Lu¹, Ai-Hua Zhang¹, Wan-Ying Wang², Wen-Jun Chai¹, Fang-Fang Wu³, Guang-Li Yan¹, Yu Guan¹, Xi-Jun Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ National TCM Key Laboratory of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Metabolomics Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, National Chinmedomics Research Center, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau SAR, China.
³ National Engineering Laboratory for the Development of Southwestern Endangered Medicinal Materials, Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plant, Nanning, China.

Abstract

Background: Damp-heat jaundice syndrome (DHJS) is a diagnostic model of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that refers to jaundice caused by damp-heat pathogen invasion. DHJS is the most common clinical manifestation of TCM, with yellow skin, yellow eyes and anorexia. ZhiziBaipi Decoction (ZBD) is a classic TCM formula that is effective at treating DHJS and various liver diseases. However, the effective components of ZBD in the context of DHJS and the underlying mechanism are unclear. Purpose: This study of ZBD using the DHJS rat model aimed to elucidate the pathobiology of DHJS and the metabolic targets of therapeutic ZBD, construct the network relationship between the components of ZBD and endogenous biomarkers, and clarify the underlying mechanism of ZBD in preventing and treating DHJS. Methods: Using chinmedomics as the core strategy, an animal model was generated, and the therapeutic effect of ZBD was evaluated based on behavioral, histopathological and biochemical indicators. Metabonomics tools were used to identify biomarkers of DHJS, TCM-based serum pharmacochemistry was used to analyze the effective constituents of ZBD, and chinmedomics technology was used to identify ZBD components highly related to DHJS biomarkers. Results: A total of 42 biomarkers were preliminarily identified, and ZBD significantly affected the levels of 29 of these biomarkers. A total of 59 compounds in ZBD were characterized in vivo. According to chinmedomics analysis, the highly correlated components found in blood were isoformononetin, 3-O-feruloylquinic acid, glycyrrhizic acid, oxyberberine, obaculactone and five metabolites. Conclusions: Chinmedomics combined with UPLC-MS/MS was used to study the targets and effective constituents of ZBD for the treatment of DHJS.

Keywords: UPLC-MS/MS; ZhiziBaipi decoction; chinmedomics; combination mechanism; damp-heat jaundice syndrome; metabolic profile.