Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Areas and Protection of Ecological Environment, Guizhou Normal University, 116 Baoshan North Rd., Guiyang 550001, China
2. Guizhou Engineering Laboratory for Quality Control & Evaluation Technology of Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, 116 Baoshan North Rd., Guiyang 550001, China
3. The Research Center for Quality Control of Natural Medicine, Guizhou Normal University, 116 Baoshan North Rd., Guiyang 550001, China
Abstract
Periploca forrestii Schltr. (P. forrestii) is a classical medicinal plant and is commonly used in traditional medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, soft tissue injuries, and traumatic injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-arthritic effects of three fractions of P. forrestii alcoholic extracts (PAE), P. forrestii water extracts (PWE), and total flavonoids from P. forrestii (PTF) on Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA)-induced arthritis in rats, and to use a non-targeted lipidomic method to investigate the mechanism of action of the three fractions of P. forrestii in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. To assess the effectiveness of anti-rheumatoid arthritis, various indicators were measured, including joint swelling, histopathological changes in the joints, serum cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6)), and the joint inflammatory substance prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Finally, ultra-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole-orbitrap–high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS) was used to determine the non-targeted lipid histology of the collected rat serum and urine samples to investigate the possible mechanism of action. PWE, PAE, and PTF were all effective in treating FCA-induced rheumatoid arthritis. The administered groups all reduced joint swelling and lowered serum inflammatory factor levels in rats. In the screening of lipid metabolite differences between serum and urine of the rat model group and the normal group, a total of 52 different metabolites were screened, and the levels of lipid metabolites in PWE, PAE, and PTF were significantly higher than those in the normal group after administration. In addition, PWE, PAE, and PTF may have significant therapeutic effects on FCA-induced arthritis by modulating nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, and histidine metabolic pathways.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Chemistry (miscellaneous),Analytical Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Molecular Medicine,Drug Discovery,Pharmaceutical Science