Effect of Bushen Huoxue recipe on serum metabolomics in polycystic ovary syndrome rats

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the effect of Bushen Huoxue Recipe (BSHXR) on serum metabolomics in polycystic ovary syndrome rat (PCOSR).

Methods

In our study, twenty-four 6-week-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) female rats were randomly divided into three groups: treatment group, model group and blank group. The blank group and other groups were gavaged in different ways each morning, and the rats were treated with normal saline or BSHXR containing liquid each afternoon. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was employed to study serum metabolites in the treatment group after the study as well as in the model and blank groups.

Results

There was a tendency to normalize the histomorphology of ovarian pathology and the abnormal sex hormone level of PCOSR was significantly improved after BSHXR treatment. The level of serum metabolites was greatly changed in PCOSR treated with the BSHXR. We identified 32 metabolic targets of BSHXR in PCOSR using LC-MS, and further revealed BSHXR targeted five major metabolic pathway: retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, arginine and proline metabolism. Conclusion: Our study found that BSHXR plays a role in the treatment of PCOS by regulating key metabolic pathways in the PCOSR.

Keywords:

• Bushen Huoxue recipe (BSHXR)
• LC-MS
• polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• serum metabolomics

Author’ contributions

Hongqiu Zhu designed the study and guided the experiments. Junjie Li completed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Ying Zhu, Peijuan Wu, Hanxue Wu and Haiyan Chen assisted with experiments and reviewed the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81873335), the special project on TCM research of Sichuan Provincial Administration of traditional Chinese medicine (2021MS473) and hospital specific key project of the scientific improvement program for discipline talents in Chengdu University of traditional Chinese medicine (2020yky05).