Si Yuan-Cheng, Ren Chen-Chen, Zhang Er-Wei, Kang Zhao-Xia, Mo Xi-Ya, Li Qing-Qing, Chen Bo
College of Acupuncture and Tuina, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dongqing South Road, Guiyang, Guizhou 550025, P. R. China.
Am J Chin Med. 2022;50(3):673-690. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X22500276. Epub 2022 Mar 10.
Acupuncture has been used to treat numerous diseases such as obesity in China for thousands of years. Several mechanisms of acupuncture on obesity have been surveyed based on metabolomics, but the effects of acupuncture on the alterations in the gut flora are still unclear. In this study, an integrated approach based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) metabolic profiling was conducted to investigate the effects of acupuncture on high-fat-diet-induced obesity through the regulation of the relative abundances of gut microbiota and their relationships with biomarker candidates. A total of 10 significantly altered bacterial genera and 11 metabolites were recognized, which recovered to normal levels after electroacupuncture treatment. The relative abundances of the bacterial families ,,,, ,,,, andwere remarkedly changed among the three groups. Potential biomarkers, including (0:0/16:0) ([Formula: see text]1),(0:0/18:0) ([Formula: see text]2),([Formula: see text]3),(16:0) ([Formula: see text]4), 3[Formula: see text],6[Formula: see text],7[Formula: see text]--5[Formula: see text]-([Formula: see text]5), 5-([Formula: see text]6),(18:0/0:0) ([Formula: see text]7), 1--5--6--5,6-([Formula: see text]8),([Formula: see text]9),[Formula: see text]-([Formula: see text]10) and([Formula: see text]11), were involved in several metabolic pathways, such as the glycerophospholipid metabolism and primary bile acid biosynthesis. Interestingly, there was a strong correlation between the perturbed gut flora in and and the altered intestinal metabolite of 3[Formula: see text],6[Formula: see text],7[Formula: see text]--5[Formula: see text]- and and [Formula: see text]-. This finding suggested that the effects of electroacupuncture might change the proportions of and by regulating the constituents of the functional metabolite of 3[Formula: see text],6[Formula: see text],7[Formula: see text]--5[Formula: see text]- and and [Formula: see text]-. These results indicated that the effects of electroacupuncture focused on custom metabolic pathways as well as depend on the changes in the gut microbiota in obesity. These findings suggest that the 16S rRNA gene sequencing and HPLC-MS-based metabolomics approach can be applied to comprehensively assess the effects of traditional Chinese medicines.
在中国，针灸用于治疗肥胖症等多种疾病已有数千年历史。基于代谢组学对针灸治疗肥胖症的多种机制进行了研究，但针灸对肠道菌群变化的影响仍不明确。本研究采用基于16S rRNA基因测序结合高效液相色谱 - 质谱联用（HPLC-MS）代谢谱分析的综合方法，通过调节肠道微生物群的相对丰度及其与候选生物标志物的关系，研究针灸对高脂饮食诱导的肥胖症的影响。共识别出10个显著变化的细菌属和11种代谢物，电针治疗后它们恢复到正常水平。三组之间细菌科 、、、、和的相对丰度有显著变化。潜在生物标志物包括（0:0/16:0）（[公式：见正文]1）、（0:0/18:0）（[公式：见正文]2）、（[公式：见正文]3）、（16:0）（[公式：见正文]4）、3[公式：见正文]、6[公式：见正文]、7[公式：见正文] - - 5[公式：见正文] - （[公式：见正文]5）、5 - （[公式：见正文]6）、（18:0/0:0）（[公式：见正文]7）、1 - - 5 - - 6 - - 5,6 - （[公式：见正文]8）、（[公式：见正文]9）、[公式：见正文] - （[公式：见正文]10）和（[公式：见正文]11），参与了甘油磷脂代谢和初级胆汁酸生物合成等多种代谢途径。有趣的是，组和组中肠道菌群紊乱与3[公式：见正文]、6[公式：见正文]、7[公式：见正文] - - 5[公式：见正文] - 和组以及组中改变的肠道代谢物之间存在很强的相关性。这一发现表明，电针的作用可能通过调节3[公式：见正文]、6[公式：见正文]、7[公式：见正文] - - 5[公式：见正文] - 和组以及组功能性代谢物的成分来改变组和组的比例。这些结果表明，电针的作用集中在定制的代谢途径上，并且取决于肥胖症中肠道微生物群的变化。这些发现表明，基于16S rRNA基因测序和HPLC-MS的代谢组学方法可用于全面评估中药的作用。
