Integrative Proteomics-Metabolomics Strategy for Pathological Mechanism of Vascular Depression Mouse Model

Regulatory Effects and Mechanisms of L-Theanine on Neurotransmitters via Liver-Brain Axis Under a High Protein Diet

Excessive protein intake causes liver and brain damage and neurotransmitter disorders, thereby inducing cognitive dysfunction. L-theanine can regulate the neurotransmitter content and show great potential in liver and brain protection. However, it remains unclear whether l-theanine effectively regulates neurotransmitter content under high-protein diet. A 40-day feeding experiment was performed in Sprague Dawley rats to investigate the regulatory effects and mechanisms of l-theanine on neurotransmitters via liver-brain axis in high-protein diets. The results showed that a 30% protein diet increased the liver and brain neurotransmitter content while maintaining the normal structure of liver and the hippocampal CA1 of brain and improving the autonomous behavior of rats. In contrast, 40% and 50% protein diets decreased the content of neurotransmitters, affected autonomous behavior, destroyed the hippocampal CA1 of brain structure, increased hepatic inflammatory infiltration, lipid degeneration, and hepatocyte eosinophilic change in liver, increased liver AST, ALT, MDA, CRP, and blood ammonia level, and decreased liver SOD and CAT level. However, l-theanine improved liver and brain neurotransmitter content, autonomous behavior, liver and hippocampal brain structure, and liver biochemical indicators in 40% and 50% protein diets. To explore how LTA can eliminate the adverse effects of a high-protein diet, we analyzed different metabolites and proteomes and using western blotting for validate quantitatively. We found that l-theanine regulates the activity of PF4 and G protein subunit alpha i2, increases the content of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and dopamine under a 20% protein diet. In addition, l-theanine can activate the adenylate cyclase-protein kinase A pathway through the protein alpha/beta-hydrolase domain protein 12 to regulate the content of neurotransmitters under a 40% protein diet, thereby exerting a neuroprotective effect.

Protective Effect of l-Theanine on Cyclophosphamide-Induced Testicular Toxicity in Mice

l-Theanine is the most abundant free amino acid present in tea. Several tea components have been studied for their impact on male fertility, but little is known about the effects of l-theanine. Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an antineoplastic and immunosuppressive agent that reduces fertility in males. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of l-theanine on CP-induced testicular toxicity in male mice. A single dosage of 50 mg/kg saline or CP was administered intraperitoneally over the course of 5 days. Mice were administered l-theanine (80 mg/kg) or saline by gavage for 30 days. Animals were euthanized 24 h after the last l-theanine administration, and the testes were removed for histopathological and transmission electron microscopy analysis. Histological evaluation and transmission electron microscopy showed that administration of l-theanine alleviated CP-induced damage to the testicles, including spermatogonial cells, epithelial cells, seminiferous tubules, and basement membrane. An integrated proteomics and metabolomics investigation of testes revealed that l-theanine therapy substantially affected the quantity of 719 proteins (395 upregulated and 324 downregulated) and 196 metabolites (75 upregulated and 111 downregulated). The top three enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways for these proteins and metabolites were purine metabolism, choline metabolism in cancer, and arachidonic acid metabolism. This is the first study to reveal the protective effect of l-theanine on CP-induced testicular toxicity. l-Theanine could be a potential natural active substance for resistance to the testis toxicity induced by CP.

The mechanism of chronic unpredictable mild stress induced high blood pressure in rats: a proteomic and targeted metabolomic analysis

Chronic stress, a leading factor for high blood pressure (BP) and even hypertension, affects health quality seriously. However, the management is rather difficult in our rapidly developing modern society, and the underlying mechanism that caused hypertension remains incompletely understood. In this study, we established a rat model of high BP induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). The results showed that CUMS increased the BP and heart rate, as well as the concentrations of CORT, NA, and ACTH. Based on tandem mass tag (TMT)-labeled proteomics, 13 proteins changed in RVLM. Then, targeted metabolomics together with real-time qPCR were applied to validate the levels of the biomolecules quantitatively. The related molecules were confirmed to reveal that CUMS has a great role in the upregulation of muscle contraction, synthesis of cAMP and transport of metals, while down-regulating ralaxin signaling. This finding facilitates a better understanding of the mechanism of hypertension induced by chronic stress and could provide an insight into the prevention and treatment of hypertension.

Integrating Untargeted and Targeted Metabolomics Coupled with Pathway Analysis Reveals Muscle Disorder in Osteoporosis on Orchiectomized Mice

Most osteoporosis (OP) fracture accidents in men are due not only to a low BMD but also because of unhealthy muscle support. However, there has been a limited number of reports about how muscle metabolism is disturbed by OP in males. In this work, a pathway analysis based on metabolomic research was carried out to fill this gap. A classical orchiectomy procedure was adapted to create an OP animal model. A micro-CT and pathological section were applied for a bone and muscle phenotype assessment and a pathology analysis. UPLC-Q-TOF/MS and UPLC-QQQ-MS/MS were applied to measure metabolites in skeletal muscle samples among groups. In total, 31 significantly differential metabolites were detected by comparing healthy models and OP animals, and 7 representative metabolites among the 31 significantly differential metabolites were identified and validated experimentally by UPLC-QQQ-MS/MS (xanthine, L-phenylalanine, choline, hypoxanthine, L-tryptophan, succinic acid, and L-tyrosine). An ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) analysis revealed significantly enriched pathways involved in inflammation, oxidative stress, and necrosis. To our best knowledge, this is the first study to investigate early muscle disorder processes in Cases of OP at a metabolic level, facilitating early intervention and protection from OP fractures for aged men.

Characterization of plasma metabolites and proteins in patients with herpetic neuralgia and development of machine learning predictive models based on metabolomic profiling

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a localized, painful cutaneous eruption that occurs upon reactivation of the herpes virus. Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common chronic complication of HZ. In this study, we examined the metabolomic and proteomic signatures of disease progression in patients with HZ and PHN. We identified differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs), differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), and key signaling pathways that transition from healthy volunteers to the acute or/and chronic phases of herpetic neuralgia. Moreover, some specific metabolites correlated with pain scores, disease duration, age, and pain in sex dimorphism. In addition, we developed and validated three optimal predictive models (AUC > 0.9) for classifying HZ and PHN from healthy individuals based on metabolic patterns and machine learning. These findings may reveal the overall metabolomics and proteomics landscapes and proposed the optimal machine learning predictive models, which provide insights into the mechanisms of HZ and PHN.

An Integrated Proteomics and Metabolomics Strategy for the Mechanism of Calcium Oxalate Crystal-Induced Kidney Injury

Renal fibrosis is the pathological repair reaction of the kidney to chronic injury, which is an important process of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progressing to end-stage renal failure. Nephrolithiasis is one of the most common renal diseases, with waist and abdomen pain, hematuria, urinary tract infection, and other clinical symptoms, which can increase the risk of renal fibrosis. Oxalate crystal-induced kidney injury is an early stage of nephrolithiasis; it is of great significance to explore the mechanism for the prevention and treatment of nephrolithiasis. A rodent model of calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystal-induced kidney injury was used in the present study, and a network analysis method combining proteomics and metabolomics was conducted to reveal the mechanism of crystal kidney injury and to provide potential targets for the intervention of nephrolithiasis. Using the metabolomics method based on the UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS platform and the iTRAQ quantitative proteomics method, we screened a total of 244 metabolites and 886 proteins from the kidney tissues that had significant changes in the Crystal group compared with that in the Control group. Then, the ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) was applied to construct a protein-to-metabolic regulatory network by correlating and integrating differential metabolites and proteins. The results showed that CaOx crystals could induce inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress through Akt, ERK1/2, and P38 MAPK pathways and affect amino acid metabolism and fatty acid β-oxidation to result in kidney injury, thus providing an important direction for the early prevention and treatment of nephrolithiasis.

Integrated Proteomic and Metabolomic Analysis of the Testes Characterizes BDE-47-Induced Reproductive Toxicity in Mice

A representative congener of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment, 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47), is associated with male reproductive toxicity, yet the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. In this study, mice were administered environmentally relevant concentrations of BDE-47 for six weeks. Histopathological observations showed that BDE-47 induced inflammatory reactions and damaged the testes. By conducting an integrated proteomic and metabolomic analysis coupled with a bioinformatic analysis using ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) methods, we found that BDE-47 mainly affected the molecules involved in free radical scavenging, cell death and survival, neurological disease, and inflammatory response. IPA canonical pathways showed inflammatory and apoptosis pathways, including hepatic fibrosis/hepatic stellate cell activation, the GP6 signaling pathway, tight junction signaling, acute phase response signaling, LXR/RXR activation, unfolded protein response, and FXR/RXR activation, which are related to male reproductive toxicity. Key transcriptional regulator networks were activated via a focus on upstream regulator analysis. The expression of MYC and Clu as the core transcriptional factor and targeted protein, respectively, was verified. It is further proposed that MYC may contribute to the etiology of male reproductive toxicity. These findings will improve our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for BDE-47-induced male reproductive toxicity, which may promote the discovery of useful biomarkers indicative of BDE-47 exposure.

Integrative Proteomic and Metabolomic Analysis Reveals Metabolic Phenotype in Mice With Cardiac-Specific Deletion of Natriuretic Peptide Receptor A

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) are important biological markers and cardiac function regulators. Natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA) binds to an ANP or BNP ligand and induces transmembrane signal transduction by elevating the intracellular cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels. However, the metabolic phenotype and related mechanisms induced by NPRA deletion remain ambiguous. Here, we constructed myocardial-specific NPRA deletion mice and detected the heart functional and morphological characteristics by histological analysis and explored the altered metabolic pattern and the expression patterns of proteins by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based omics technology. NPRA deficiency unexpectedly did not result in significant cardiac remodeling or dysfunction. However, compared with the matched littermates, NPRA-deficient mice had significant metabolic differences. Metabolomic analysis showed that the metabolite levels varied in cardiac tissues and plasma. In total, 33 metabolites were identified in cardiac tissues and 54 were identified in plasma. Compared with control mice, NPRA-deficient mice had 20 upregulated and six downregulated metabolites in cardiac tissues and 25 upregulated and 23 downregulated metabolites in plasma. Together, NPRA deficiency resulted in increased nucleotide biosynthesis and histidine metabolism only in heart tissues and decreased creatine metabolism only in plasma. Further proteomic analysis identified 136 differentially abundant proteins in cardiac tissues, including 54 proteins with higher abundance and 82 proteins with lower abundance. Among them, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 7c and 7b (Cox7c, Cox7b), ATP synthase, H+ transporting, mitochondrial Fo complex subunit F2 (ATP5J2), ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase, complex III subunit X (Uqcr10), and myosin heavy chain 7 (Myh7) were mainly involved in related metabolic pathways. These results revealed the essential role of NPRA in metabolic profiles and may elucidate new underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of NPRA in cardiovascular diseases.

Integrating proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic data to construct a global metabolic network of lethal ventricular tachyarrhythmias (LVTA) induced by aconitine

Lethal ventricular tachyarrhythmias (LVTA)-related sudden cardiac death (SCD) is one of the major causes of death worldwide. However, the mechanisms underlying LVTA induced by myocardial ion channel diseases (MICDs) are not yet fully understood. Here, we produced an LVTA rat model induced by aconitine, to mimic MICDs-elicited LVTA, and constructed a global pathway network via integrating proteomic and lipidomic data, and our previously published metabolomic data. Results showed that both proteome and lipidome were disturbed during the LVTA process. Most of the differentially expressed proteins and lipid species were correlated. Proteomic data indicated disturbance of energy metabolism (e.g. fatty acid β-oxidation and the tricarboxylic acid cycle) and activation of the protein kinase C and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAPDH) oxidase pathway; these alterations led to lowered ATP and elevated ROS, respectively. Altered levels of the Ca²⁺ handling proteins suggested aberrant intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis, which might also be secondary to the shortage of ATP and oxidative stress. Significantly, the disrupted pathways implied by proteomic data were largely confirmed by lipidomic and metabolomic data. Collectively, we have constructed a metabolic pathway network of aconitine-induced LVTA using a multi-omics strategy, which confers great promise for the deeper interpretation of the mechanisms underlying LVTA. SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, we integrated proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics to explore the pathophysiological processes of LVTA induced by aconitine. It is innovative to try to integrate these three omics in a study exploring the relative mechanisms. Here, based on the DEPs and differentially abundant lipid species (DALPs) between the LVTA groups and the controls, and the different metabolites discovered previously from the same model, we have successfully constructed a global metabolic network. Taken together, the multi-omics integration strategies used in this study show the potential for a new interpretation of the pathophysiological processes of LVTA induced by different conditions and open the possibility to explore deeper and broader mechanisms of other diseases.

Anti-depressant effect of Zhi-zi-chi decoction on CUMS mice and elucidation of its signaling pathway

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Zhi-zi-chi decoction (ZZCD) is used for treating depression as an effectively traditional Chinese medicine. Until now, studies on pharmacological research of ZZCD have mostly been centered in pharmacokinetic level. Little was known about its pharmacological mechanism of relieving depression.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This study was to evaluate the effect of ZZCD on relieving depression via behavioral tests, serum metabolomics and signaling target expression analysis on chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model mice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The CUMS exposure lasted 7 consecutive weeks. The mice were administrated with ZZCD for the last 3 weeks. Behavioral tests were applied and a serum metabolomics method based on UFLC/Q-TOF-MS with multivariate statistical and global metabolic network analysis was performed to identify relevant metabolites and pathways. Finally, the protein expressions in mouse hippocampi were determined by western blot to verify the metabolomics deduction.

RESULTS

Behavioral parameters were visibly changed after modeling, while high and medium dosage groups showed status improvement compared to the model group. Seventy six metabolites were identified as potential biomarkers from the metabolomics profiles in C₁₈ and HILIC systems. In addition, 9 significant pathways related to changed biomarkers were conducted. The pathways were closely connected by some key targets, which were significantly reduced in the model group compared with those in control group, while ZZCD treated groups showed corrections after 3-week administration. The results revealed that the anti-depression efficacy of ZZCD might be associated with PKA-CREB-BDNF-TrkB-PSD-95 pathway influenced by metabolic changes, verifying the pathway annotation speculation.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that ZZCD had a positive treatment effect on CUMS depression model mice. Metabolomics results revealed the holistic and interconnected metabolic changes of ZZCD in CUMS mice. The metabolic pathway annotation suggested that the anti-depression mechanism of ZZCD might be related to signaling pathway in brain. PKA-CREB-BDNF-TrkB-PSD-95 signaling expression was a verification and complement to the metabolomics results.

A combined proteomic and metabolomic analyses of the priming phase during rat liver regeneration

By comparing differentially abundant proteins and metabolites, the protein expression, metabolic changes and metabolic regulation mechanisms during the priming phase of liver regeneration (LR) were investigated. We combined proteomic analysis via isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) with metabolomic analysis via nontargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). LC-MS was used to examine 29 energy metabolites expression alterations in targeted metabolomics. A total number of 441 differentially expressed proteins and 65 metabolites were identified. PSMB10, PSMB5, RCG_63409, PSME4 and PSMB7 were key node proteins, these proteins are involved in the proteasome pathway. The most strongly enriched transcription factor motif was TP63. These results point out a critical role of the proteasome pathway (defense mechanisms) and of TP63 (metabolic regulator) as the key transcription factor during the priming phase of LR. Metabolomic and metabolite analysis showed that profiling indicates upregulation of arginine biosynthesis and glycolysis as the main ATP-delivering pathway. Integrative proteomic and metabolomic analysis showed that biomolecular changes were primarily related to the neurological disease, cell death and survival and cell morphology. What's more, neurotransmitters may play an important role in the regulation of LR.

Rapid action of mechanism investigation of Yixin Ningshen tablet in treating depression by combinatorial use of systems biology and bioinformatics tools

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Yixin Ningshen tablet is a CFDA-approved TCM formula for treating depression clinically. However, little is known about its active compounds and related potential target proteins, so far, no researches have been performed to investigate its mechanism of action for the treatment of depression.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Here we develop an original bioinformatics pipeline composed of text mining tools, database querying and systems biology combinatorial analysis, which is applied to rapidly explore the mechanism of action of Yixin Ningshen tablet in treating depression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Text mining and database query were applied to identify active compounds in Yixin Ningshen tablet for the treatment of depression. Then SwissTargetPrediction was used to predict their potential target proteins. PubMed was retrieved to summarize known depression related systems biology results. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) tools and STRING were applied to construct a compound-target protein-gene protein-differential protein-differential metabolite network with the integration of compound-target interaction and systems biology results, as well as enrich the target proteins related pathways. ChEMBL and CDOCKER were used to validate the compound-target interactions.

RESULTS

62 active compounds and their 286 potential target proteins were identified in Yixin Ningshen tablet for the treatment of depression. The construction of compound-target protein-gene protein-differential protein-differential metabolite network shrinked the number of potential target proteins from 286 to 133. Pathway enrichment analysis of target proteins indicated that Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Calcium signaling pathway, Serotonergic synapse, cAMP signaling pathway and Gap junction were the common primary pathways regulated by both Yixin Ningshen Tablet and anti-depressant drugs, and MAPK, Relaxin, AGE-RAGE, Estrogen, HIF-1, Jak-STAT signaling pathway, Endocrine resistance, Arachidonic acid metabolism and Regulation of actin cytoskeleton were the specifically main pathways regulated by Yixin Ningshen tablet for the treatment of depression. Further validations based on references and molecular docking results demonstrated that Yixin Ningshen tablet could primarily target MAPT, CHRM1 and DRD1, thus regulating serotonergic neurons, cholinergic transmission, norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake for the treatment of depression.

CONCLUSIONS

This study displays the power of extensive mining of public data and bioinformatical repositories to provide answers for a specific pharmacological question. It furthermore demonstrates how the usage of such a combinatorial approach is advantageous for the biologist in terms of experimentation time and costs.

Age-specific differential changes on gut microbiota composition in patients with major depressive disorder

Emerging evidence has shown the age-related changes in gut microbiota, but few studies were conducted to explore the effects of age on the gut microbiota in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study was performed to identify the age-specific differential gut microbiota in MDD patients. In total, 70 MDD patients and 71 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and divided into two groups: young group (age 18-29 years) and middle-aged group (age 30-59 years). The 16S rRNA gene sequences were extracted from the collected fecal samples. Finally, we found that the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were significantly decreased and increased, respectively, in young MDD patients as compared with young HCs, and the relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria were significantly decreased and increased, respectively, in middle-aged MDD patients as compared with middle-aged HCs. Meanwhile, six and 25 differentially abundant bacterial taxa responsible for the differences between MDD patients (young and middle-aged, respectively) and their respective HCs were identified. Our results demonstrated that there were age-specific differential changes on gut microbiota composition in patients with MDD. Our findings would provide a novel perspective to uncover the pathogenesis underlying MDD.

Proteomic and Metabolomic Profiling Identify Plasma Biomarkers for Exposure to Ultra-low Levels of Carfentanil

Despite the recent epidemic of fentanyl abuse, there are few validated assays capable of rapidly detecting these compounds. In order to improve the ability to detect carfentanil at physiologically relevant concentrations, we developed a systems biology approach to discover host-based markers which are specifically amplified upon exposure in a rabbit model. For this work, two "omics" pipelines utilizing mass spectrometry were developed and leveraged. First, a proteomics pipeline was developed to interrogate the blood plasma for protein-based biomarkers. Due to the incredible dynamic range of the plasma protein content, a multi-dimensional fractionation technique was used to partition and more accurately investigate the circulating plasma proteome. Isobaric tandem mass tags were integrated into the workflow to make quantitative assessments across all animals for an extended time course post-exposure. In addition to the proteomics efforts, blood plasma was also processed through an untargeted metabolomics pipeline. This approach allows for the identification of >800 small molecule features. By processing and analyzing data sets in parallel, we were able to identify a unique fingerprint of protein and metabolite perturbations that manifest following exposure to carfentanil.

Integrated analysis of proteomics and metabolomics reveals the potential sex determination mechanism in Odontobutis potamophila

Odontobutis potamophila is a valuable species for aquaculture in China, which shows asexually dimorphic growth pattern. In this study, the integrated proteomics and metabolomics were used to analyze the sex determination mechanism. A total of 2781 significantly different regulated proteins were identified by proteomics and 2693 significantly different expressed metabolites were identified by metabolomics. Among them, 2560 proteins and 1701 metabolites were significantly up-regulated in testes, whereas 221 proteins and 992 metabolites were significantly up-regulated in ovaries. Venn diagram analysis showed 513 proteins were differentially regulated at both protein and metabolite levels. Correlation analysis of differentially-regulated proteins and metabolites were identified by Gene Ontology annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis. The results showed lipid metabolism plays an important role in sex determination. The metabolites decanoyl-CoA, leukotriene, 3-dehydrosphinganine, and arachidonate were the biomarkers in testes, whereas estrone and taurocholate were the biomarkers in ovaries. Interaction networks of the significant differentially co-regulated proteins and metabolites in the process of lipid metabolism showed arachidonic acid metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis were the most important pathways in sex determination. The findings of this study provide valuable information for selective breeding of O. potamophila. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The male O. potamophila grows substantially larger and at a quicker rate than the female. Thus, males have greater economic value than females. However, limited research was done to analyze the sex determination mechanism of O. potamophila, which seriously hindered the development of whole-male O. potamophila breeding. In this study, four key proteins (Ctnnb1, Piwil1, Hsd17b1, and Dnali1), six most important biomarkers (decanoyl-CoA, leukotriene, 3-dehydrosphinganine, arachidonate, estrone, and taurocholate) and two key pathways (arachidonic acid metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis) in sex determination of O. potamophila were found by integrated application of iTRAQ and LC-MS techniques. The results give valuable information for molecular breeding of O. potamophila in aquaculture.

UPLC-QTOF/MS-based metabolomics reveals the mechanism of chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced hypertension in rats

Hypertension is a common chronic disease, and it is the strongest risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Recently, the number of patients with hypertension-related complications has increased significantly, adding a heavy burden to the public health system. It is known that chronic stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and stroke. However, the impact of hypertension on the dysfunctions induced by chronic stress remains poorly understood. In this study, using LC-MS-based metabolomics, we established a chronic stress model to demonstrate the mechanisms of stress-induced hypertension. We found that 30 metabolites in chronically stressed rats were changed; of these metabolites, seven had been upregulated, and 23 had been downregulated, including amino acids, phospholipids, carnitines and fatty acids, many of which are involved in amino acid metabolism, cell membrane injury, ATP supply and inflammation. These metabolites are engaged in dysregulated pathways and will provide a targeted approach to study the mechanism of stress-induced hypertension.

Protective effects of timosaponin BII on oxidative stress damage in PC12 cells based on metabolomics

Peroxide and oxygen free radicals are some of the causes of oxidative stress in brain tissue, and could lead to the change of brain structure and function. In addition, oxidative damage is one of the most important causes of the aging of the vast majority of tissues. The aim of this study is to investigate the protective effect of timosaponin BII on oxidative stress damage of PC12 induced by H₂ O₂ using metabolomics based on the UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS technique. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis method was used to identify 35 metabolites as decisive marker compounds in a preliminary interpretation of the mechanism of the antioxidative effect of timosaponin BII. The majority of these metabolites are involved in the glutathione metabolism, amino acid metabolism, sphingolipid and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Our results suggest that timosaponin BII demonstrates systematic antioxidant effects in the PC12 oxidative damage cell model via the regulation of multiple metabolic pathways. These findings provide insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying oxidative stress damage and suggest innovative and effective treatments for this disorder, providing a reliable basis for the development of novel therapeutic target in timosaponin BII treatment of oxidative stress.