Metabonomic study of the fruits of Alpinia oxyphylla as an effective treatment for chronic renal injury in rats

• Twenty-one metabolites were contributed to the therapeutic effect of Alpinia oxyphylla.
• Significant changes of 9 metabolites were identified in CKD rats and restored after treated.
• The metabonomic analysis could be a useful tool to discuss the therapeutic effects and its action mechanism in CKD.

Alpinia oxyphylla (Zingiberaceae) is a well-known medicinal plant. Its fruit (“Yi-Zhi-Ren” in Chinese) is used as an anti-diuretic and traditionally used for the treatment of enuresis and reduce urination. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a disease with the characteristic of the slowly loss of kidney function and has a prevalence of up to 7–10% in adults. Recent advances in its etiology and pathogenesis are providing more speculative hypotheses focused on integral systems. Using a UPLC–QTOF-MS/MS-based metabolomic platform, we explored the changes of metabolic profiling in plasma/urine simultaneously between chronic kidney disease (CKD) induced from adenine excess and the protective effects of A. oxyphylla extract (AOE). The total twenty-one metabolites (twelve in urine and nine in plasma), up-regulated or down-regulated, were identified and contributed to CKD progress. Among these biomarkers, agmatine, CAMP, 7-methylguanine, hippuric acid, indoxyl sulfate, asparagines, kynurenic acid and p-cresol sulfate were restored back to the control-like level after the treatment of AOE (p < 0.05 or 0.01), These findings may be promising to yield a valuable insight into the pathophysiology of CKD and serve as characteristics to explain the mechanisms of AOE.

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