Effect of a traditional Chinese medicine prescription Quzhuotongbi decoction on hyperuricemia model rats studied by using serum metabolomics based on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Morbidity of hyperuricemia has constantly increased in population in decades, and hyperuricemia has proved to be an important risk factor for gout, cardiovascular diseases and others. Many urate-lowering drugs have unfavorable side effects and drug interactions. Quzhuotongbi decoction (QZTBD) is an empirical traditional Chinese medicine prescription for clinical therapy of hyperuricemia without serious adverse effects. In the study, we investigated the effects of QZTBD on urate and other metabolites in the sera of hyperuricemia model rats. Hyperuricemia model was established by orally administering yeast extract paste, and allopurinol served as a positive control drug. Serum metabolomics was performed by using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Student's t-test and the principal component analysis (PCA) were employed to find the metabolic perturbations in hyperuricemia model rats. The levels of urate, lactate, pyruvate and ornithine were significantly increased, and xanthine, glyconic acids (ribonate, galactonate), amino acids (aspartate, proline, glutamine, serine, pyroglutamate, glutamate) and glucose were down-regulated greatly in the model rats. It demonstrated that nucleotide metabolism, amino acid metabolism and glycolytic pathway were disturbed by yeast administration. An orthogonal signal correction-partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OSC-PLS DA) was performed to assess the effects of yeast administering and drug treatment. 11 significantly distinctive metabolites among four groups were defined according to the variable importance for project values (VIP>1) and univariate ANOVA (p value<0.05). As compared to the model rats, the serum uric acid levels were lowered markedly under the treatment of allopurinol or QZTBD. Aspartate and glutamine involved in purine metabolism, were raised to normal level as well. The different influences on xanthine, glutamate pyroglutamate and galactonate suggested there were different mechanisms of two drugs in urate-lowering therapy. Our finding proved that QZTBD can efficiently lower the level of serum uric acid in a different way from allopurinol, which suggested that QZTBD based on the theory of TCM could be an effective therapeutic option for hyperuricemia.