Metabolomic profiles delineate the effect of Sanmiao wan on hyperuricemia in rats

A serum metabolomic method based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry was developed to characterize hyperuricemia-related metabolic profiles and delineate the mechanism of Sanmiao wan (SMW), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), in treating hyperuricemic rats. With partial least-squares discriminant analysis for classification and selection of biomarkers, 13 potential biomarkers in mouse serum were identified in the screen, primarily involved in purine metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, citrate cycle, phenylalanine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Taking these potential biomarkers as screening indexes, SMW could reverse the pathological process of hyperuricemia through partially regulating the perturbed metabolic pathway except for glycerophospholipid metabolism. Our results showed that a metabolomic approach offers a useful tool to identify hyperuricemia-related biomarkers and provides a new methodological cue for systematically dissecting the underlying efficacies and mechanisms of TCM in treating hyperuricemia.