Metabonomic study of Chinese medicine Shuanglong formula as an effective treatment for myocardial infarction in rats.

A UPLC/TOF-MS-based metabonomic study was conducted to assess the holistic efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Shuanglong Formula (SLF) for myocardial infarction in rats. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups after surgery. The Panax ginseng group, Salvia miltiorrhiza group, and SLF group were treated with water extractions of Panax ginseng (PG), Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM), and SLF (the ratio of SM to PG was 3:7) at a dose of 5 g/kg·w·d for 21 consecutive days, respectively; the model group and sham surgery group were both treated with 0.9% saline solution. Urinary samples for metabonomic study, serum samples for biochemical measurement, and heart samples for histopathology were collected. As a result, metabonomics-based findings such as the PCA and PLS-DA plotting of metabolic state and analysis of potential biomarkers in urine correlated well to the assessment of serum biochemistry and histopathological assay, confirming that SLF exerted synergistic therapeutic efficacies to exhibit better effect on MI compared to PG or SM. The shifts in urinary TCA cycle as well as pentose phosphate pathway suggested that SLF may diminish cardiac injury of MI with its potential pharmacological effect in the regulation of myocardial energy metabolism.