Metabolomics insights into collagen-induced arthritis in mice and its treatment with wenjinghuoluo prescription

// Xin Wu 1, * , Yaodong You 2, * , Xiaocheng Chen 3, * , Qiyang Shou 4 , Songqi Tang 5 , Jida Zhang 6 , Hao Cai 7 , Baochang Cai 7 , Dongxin Tang 8 and Gang Cao 1 1 Research Center of TCM Processing Technology, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China 2 School of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu University of TCM, Chengdu, China 3 The First Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China 4 Experimental Animal Research Center, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China 5 College of TCM, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China 6 College of Basic Medical Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China 7 School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China 8 Guiyang University of Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Gang Cao, email: caogang33@163.com Dongxin Tang, email: 49729065@qq.com Keywords: UHPLC-Orbitrap-MS; metabolomics; collagen-induced arthritis; wenjinghuoluo prescription; herbal formula Received: July 20, 2017      Accepted: December 06, 2017      Published: January 02, 2018 ABSTRACT Wenjinghuoluo (WJHL) prescription, the typical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment compound in traditional Chinese medicine, shows favorable efficacy. The precise mechanism of WJHL on RA therapy is yet to be elucidated. This study aimed to determine the metabolic biomarkers in the early onset of RA and evaluate the regulation effect of WJHL on metabolite levels. Multivariate statistical analysis identified 93 biomarkers by precise MS/MS. These biomarkers played an important role in the regulation of key metabolic pathways associated with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). A total of 68 biomarkers were related with the treatment of CIA by WJHL therapy. In addition, pathway analysis results showed six and three significant related pathways according to corresponding differential metabolites before and after WJHL therapy. Finally, disease and function prediction of ingenuity pathway analysis indicated that lipid metabolism, small molecule biochemistry, and carbohydrate metabolism were associated functions of WJHL therapy on CIA. Furthermore, top analysis-ready molecules of up-regulated thiamine and down-regulated arachidomic acid maybe the most related metabolites of WJHL therapy on CIA. The present work indicated that a metabolomics platform provided a new insight into understanding the mechanisms of action of natural medicines, such as WJHL.