Proteomic analysis of the protective effects of Platycodi Radix in liver of chronically alcoholic rats

Natural compounds in the chemoprevention of alcoholic liver disease

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Much effort has been expended to explore the pathogenesis of ALD. Hepatic cell injury, oxidative stress, inflammation, regeneration, and bacterial translocation are all involved in the pathogenesis of ALD. Immediate abstinence is the most important therapeutic treatment for affected individuals. However, the medical treatment for ALD had not advanced in a long period. Intriguingly, an increasing body of research indicates the potential of natural compounds in the targeted therapy of ALD. A plethora of dietary natural products such as flavonoids, resveratrol, saponins, and β-carotene are found to exert protective effects on ALD. This occurs through various mechanisms composed of antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, iron chelation, pro-apoptosis, and/or antiproliferation of hepatic stellate cells and hepatocellular carcinoma cells. In this review, we will summarize current knowledge about the pathogenesis and treatments of ALD and focus on the potential of natural compounds in ALD therapies and underlying mechanisms.

Platycodin D isolated from the aerial parts of Platycodon grandiflorum protects alcohol-induced liver injury in mice

Platycodin D (PD) is the main active saponin of Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) and is reported to exhibit multiple biological effects, including anti-tumor, anti-inflammation, and anti-obesity properties.

Chemical profile- and pharmacokinetics-based investigation of the synergistic property of platycodonis radix in traditional Chinese medicine formula Shengxian decoction

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

To investigate the synergistic property of Platycodonis radix (PG) in a classic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription Shengxian decoction (SXT) by combining chemical profile with pharmacokinetic analysis strategy. The synergized prescription consisted of Astragali radix, Anemarrhenae rhizoma, Bupleuri radix, and Cimicifuage rhizoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was employed to investigate the chemical fingerprints of SXT and decreased SXT (SXT that removed Platycodonis radix, SXT-PG). A reliable LC-MS/MS method was developed to examine the pharmacokinetics of 9 marker compounds (including formononetin, calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucoside, ononin, caffeic acid, isoferulic acid, mangiferin, timosaponin E1, timosaponin B-II and timosaponin B) following oral administration of SXT and SXT-PG in rats. Both in vitro chemical profiles and in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters differences between SXT and SXT-PG were conducted.

RESULTS

By using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method, a total of 25 compounds identified from SXT, including 13 triterpenoids, 5 caffeinic derivatives, 4 isoflavonoids and 3 xanthone glycosides. Comparing the chemical fingerprints between SXT and decreased SXT did not reveal significant difference in the chemical profile of other four TCMs. The improved pharmacokinetic profiles of mangiferin, timosaponin E1, timosaponin B-II and timosaponin B were found in SXT group, suggesting the quicker distribution and more effective absorption, when compared with those in the SXT-PG group.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicated that PG did not increase the dissolution of synergized prescription when co-decocting, but guided the synergized prescription to target location, reflecting the courier role of PG, which was in line with the clinical principle of TCM. It also established a useful method for TCM synergistic property research.

Multifactorial comparative proteomic study of cytochrome P450 2E1 function in chronic alcohol administration

With the use of iTRAQ technique, a multifactorial comparative proteomic study can be performed. In this study, to obtain an overview of ethanol, CYP2E1 and gender effects on liver injury and gain more insight into the underlying molecular mechanism, mouse liver proteomes were quantitatively analyzed using iTRAQ under eight conditions including mice of different genders, wild type versus CYP2E1 knockout, and normal versus alcohol diet. A series of statistical and bioinformatic analyses were explored to simplify and clarify multifactorial comparative proteomic data. First, with the Principle Component analysis, six proteins, CYP2E1, FAM25, CA3, BHMT, HIBADH and ECHS1, involved in oxidation reduction, energy and lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism, were identified as the most differentially expressed gene products across all of the experimental conditions of our chronic alcoholism model. Second, hierarchical clustering analysis showed CYP2E1 knockout played a primary role in the overall differential protein expression compared with ethanol and gender factors. Furthermore, pair-wise multiple comparisons have revealed that the only significant expression difference lied in wild-type and CYP2E1 knockout mice both treated with ethanol. Third, K-mean clustering analysis indicated that the CYP2E1 knockout had the reverse effect on ethanol induced oxidative stress and lipid oxidation. More importantly, IPA analysis of proteomic data inferred that the gene expressions of two upstream regulators, NRF2 and PPARα, regulated by chronic alcohol feeding and CYP2E1 knockout, are involved in ethanol induced oxidative stress and lipid oxidation. The present study provides an effectively comprehensive data analysis strategy to compare multiple biological factors, contributing to biochemical effects of alcohol on the liver. The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with data set identifier of PXD000635.

Foodomics: MS-based strategies in modern food science and nutrition

Modern research in food science and nutrition is moving from classical methodologies to advanced analytical strategies in which MS-based techniques play a crucial role. In this context, Foodomics has been recently defined as a new discipline that studies food and nutrition domains through the application of advanced omics technologies in which MS techniques are considered indispensable. Applications of Foodomics include the genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and/or metabolomic study of foods for compound profiling, authenticity, and/or biomarker-detection related to food quality or safety; the development of new transgenic foods, food contaminants, and whole toxicity studies; new investigations on food bioactivity, food effects on human health, etc. This review work does not intend to provide an exhaustive revision of the many works published so far on food analysis using MS techniques. The aim of the present work is to provide an overview of the different MS-based strategies that have been (or can be) applied in the new field of Foodomics, discussing their advantages and drawbacks. Besides, some ideas about the foreseen development and applications of MS-techniques in this new discipline are also provided.