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Metabolomics study on the anti-depression effect of xiaoyaosan on rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stress

Authors Dai, Yuntao; Li, Zhenyu; Xue, Liming; Dou, Chunyan; Zhou, Yuzhi; Zhang, Lizeng; Qin, Xuemei

Journal JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY , MAR 24 2010,2:128

DOI 10.1016/j.jep.2010.01.016 PubMed 20079416

Abstract Ethnopharmacology. Xiaoyaosan, a famous Chinese prescription, composed of Poria (Pona cocos (Schw) Wolf), Radix Paeoniae Alba (Paeoma lactiflora Pall.), Radix Glycyrrhizae (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch), Radix Bupleuri (Bupleurum chinense DC.), Radix Angelicae Sinensis (Angelica sinensis Diets), Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae (Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz), Herba Menthae(Mentha haplocalyx Briq), and Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), has been widely used in the clinic for treating mental disorders Behavior and biochemical analyses indicate xiaoyaosan has obvious anti-depression activity However, there is no report on the effects of xiaoyaosan using a metabolomics approachAim of the study. A urinary metabolomics method was applied to evaluate the efficacy of xiaoyaosan on rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stressMaterial and methods. Rats were divided into 6 groups and drugs were administered during the 21-day model building period Urine was measured using GC-MS, processed with XCMS and Microsoft Excel and analyzed by SIMCA-P and SPASS software. Variable Importance in projection statistics and loading plot were used to find biomarker ionsResults: Clear separation between model and each drug group was achieved High dose group of xiaoyaosan was much closer to control group than middle dose group and amitriptyline group The time-dependent recovery tendency in high dose group was obtained.Conclusions. In term of anti-depression effect, high dose xiaoyaosan was the most effective and amitriptyline equaled middle dose xiaoyaosan as shown by metabolomics strategy and behavior tests some common and characteristic metabolites on the anti-depression of xiaoyaosan and amitriptyline were obtained The work showed metabolornics is a valuable tool in studying the efficacy and potential biomarkers of therapeutic effect of complex prescriptions. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd All rights reserved.

Species covered 甘草 Glycyrrhiza uralensis 白术 Atractylodes macrocephala 北柴胡 Bupleurum chinense 当归 Angelica sinensis 薄荷属 Mentha 甘草属 Glycyrrhiza 芍药属 Paeonia 薄荷 Mentha haplocalyx