Integrating untargeted metabonomics, partial least square regression analysis and MetPA to explore the targeted pathways involved into Huangqi Jiangzhong Tang against chronic atrophic gastritis rats

- A strategy integrating of untargeted metabonomics, PLS-RA and MetPA to investigate the intervention of HQJZ against CAG.
- A first study to reveal the targeted pathways of HQJZ against CAG.
- New insights into the pathogenesis of CAG and the targets for clinical treatment.

Huangqi Jiangzhong Tang (HQJZ), a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has been widely used for treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in China. However, its action mechanism was still lack of holistic interpretation. Here, an integrated untargeted metabonomics, partial least square regression analysis (PLS-RA) and MetPA was applied to investigate the intervention of HQJZ against CAG. Our metabonomic study revealed that HQJZ showed the potential protection from metabolic perturbation induced by CAG. Eleven altered metabolites and seven involved metabolic pathways were significantly regulated with pretreatment of HQJZ. Regulation of two pathways: glycine, serine and threonine metabolism and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, were recognized to be the most relevant efficacy of HQJZ against CAG based on PLS-RA and MetPA analysis, which were related to the improvement of the pathological changes including energy imbalance, excessive oxidative stress, alterations of immune system, as well as inflammation. The result suggested that the proposed strategy could decipher the scientific basis of TCM well, and give us new insights into the pathogenesis of CAG and the targets for clinical treatment.