Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 21, 2023; 29(43): 5848-5864
Published online Nov 21, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i43.5848
Chemical components and protective effects of Atractylodes japonica Koidz. ex Kitam against acetic acid-induced gastric ulcer in rats
Bi-Xian Zhen, Qian Cai, Feng Li
Bi-Xian Zhen, Qian Cai, Feng Li, Department of Medicine, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian 116600, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Li F and Cai Q designed the experiment; Zhen BX completed the whole experiment and wrote the manuscript; and all authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81973478; Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program, China, No. XLYC2002004; and Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, China, No. 2019-ZD-0443.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The Laboratory Animal Center and Animal Care & Welfare Committee of Liaoning University of TCM approved the animal experiments.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Feng Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 77 Shengming 1st Road, Double D Port, Dalian 116600, Liaoning Province, China. zhanglijiayi@163.com
Received: August 30, 2023
Peer-review started: August 30, 2023
First decision: October 8, 2023
Revised: October 21, 2023
Accepted: November 7, 2023
Article in press: November 7, 2023
Published online: November 21, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Atractylodes japonica Koidz. ex Kitam. (A. japonica, Chinese name: Guan-Cangzhu, Japanese name: Byaku-jutsu), a perennial herb, which is mainly distributed in northeast area of China, it’s often used to treat digestive system diseases such as gastric ulcer (GU). However, the mechanism of its potential protective effects against GU remains unclear.

AIM

To investigate the protective effects of A. japonica on acetic acid-induced GU rats.

METHODS

The chemical constituents of A. japonica were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) analysis. The rat model of GU was simulated by acetic acid method. The pathological changes of gastric tissues were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin stain, the levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF), EGF receptor (EGFR), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-10, Na+-K+-ATPase (NKA) in serum and gastric tissues were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the mRNA expressions of EGFR, NF-κBp65, IkappaBalpha (IκBα) and Zonula Occludens-1 (ZO-1) in gastric tissues were determined by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and the efficacy was observed. Then, plasma metabolomic analysis was performed by UPLC-MS/MS to screen the specific potential biomarkers, metabolic pathways and to explore the possible mechanisms.

RESULTS

48 chemical constituents were identified. Many of them have strong pharmacological activity, the results also revealed that A. japonica significantly improved the pathological damage of gastric tissues, increased the expression levels of IL-10, IκBα related to anti-inflammatory factors, decreased the expression levels of IL-1β, NF-κB, NF-κBp65, related to proinflammatory factors, restored the levels of factors about EGF, EGFR, ZO-1 associated with ulcer healing and the levels of factors about NKA associated with energy metabolism. Metabolomic analysis identified 10 potential differential metabolites and enriched 7 related metabolic pathways.

CONCLUSION

These findings contribute to the understanding of the potential mechanism of A. japonica to improve acetic acid-induced GU, and will be of great importance for the development and clinical application of natural drugs related to A. japonica.

Keywords: Atractylodes japonica Koidz. ex Kitam., Ulcer, Acetic acid, Digestive system diseases, Metabolomics, Rats

Core Tip:Atractylodes japonica Koidz. ex Kitam. is a commonly used folk medicine for the treatment of gastric ulcer (GU), but the mechanism of the treatment of GU is still unclear. In this study, chemical composition, pharmacodynamics and metabolomics were studied to explore the potential mechanism of it. The finding was closely related to anti-inflammation, ulcer healing and other factors.