[Investigation of Evolution Rules of Phlegm and Blood Stasis Syndrome in Hyperlipidemia and Ath- erosclerosis by NMR-based Metabolic Profiling and Metabonomic Approaches].

OBJECTIVE: To explore evolution rules of phlegm and blood stasis syndrome ( PBSS) in hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis (AS) using NMR-based metabolic profiling and metabonomic approaches based on formulas corresponding to syndrome. METHODS: Totally 150 SD rats were divided into the normal group, the model group, the Erchen Decoction (ED) group, the Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction (XZD) group, the Lipitor group, 30 in each group. The hyperlipidemia and AS rat model was duplicated by suturing carotid artery, injecting vitamin D3, and feeding with high fat diet. ED and XZD were used as drug probes. Blood samples were withdrawn at week 2, 4, and 8 after modeling. Blood lipids, blood rheology, histopathology and metabolomics were detected and analyzed. Results Results of blood lipids and pathology showed hyperlipidemia and early AS rat models were successfully established. At week 2 after modeling, levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) significantly increased, which reached the peak at week 4 and maintained at higher levels at week 8. ED exerted obvious effect in improving TC and LDL-C levels of early models, while XZD could greatly improve levels of TC and LDL-C of late models. Rheological results showed at week 2, there was no significant difference in whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, or hematocrit between the model group and the normal group (P > 0.05). At week 4 partial hemorheological indicators (such as plasma viscosity) were abnormal. Till week 8 whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, and hematocrit were significantly abnormal (P <0. 05, P < 0.01). As time went by, whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, and hematocrit showed gradual increasing tendency in the ED group, while they showed gradual decreasing tendency in the XZD group. Results of metabonomics showed significant difference in spectra of metabolites between the normal group and the model group. As modeling time was prolonged, contents of acetyl glucoprotein and glucose in the model group increased in late stage, which was in. line with results of blood lipids and hemorheology. ED showed more obvious effect in early and mid-term modeling (at week 2 and 4), and increased contents of partial metabolites (such as choline, phosphatidyl choline, glycerophosphocholine), but these changes in the XZD group were consistent with those of the model group. In late modeling (at week 8) XZD showed more obvious effect in improving contents of lactic acid, acetyl glycoprotein, LDL, creatine, choline, and glucose. CONCLUSIONS: ED and XZD not only showed regulatory effects on lipid disorders, but also could improve dysbolism of Chos. In formulas corresponding to syndrome, damp-phlegm was main pathogenesis of hyperlipidema and AS in early and mid stages. Blood stasis syndrome began to occur along with it progressed. Phlegm can result in blood stasis and intermingles with stasis. Phlegm turbidity runs through the whole process.

An integrated metabonomic and proteomic study on Kidney-Yin Deficiency Syndrome patients with diabetes mellitus in China.

AIM: To investigate specific changes in metabolites and proteins of Kidney-Yin Deficiency Syndrome (KYDS) patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in China. METHODS: KYDS (n=29) and non-KYDS (n=23) patients with DM were recruited for this study. The KYDS was diagnosed by two senior TCM clinicians separately. The metabonomic and proteomic profiles of the patients were assessed using a metabonomic strategy based on NMR with multivariate analysis and a proteomic strategy based on MALDI-TOF-MS, respectively. RESULTS: Eighteen upregulated peptides and thirty downregulated peptides were observed in the plasma of the KYDS patients. Comparing the proteomic profiles of the KYDS and non-KYDS groups, however, no significantly differentially expressed peptides were found. At the same time, major metabolic alterations were found to distinguish the two groups, including eight significantly changed metabolites (creatinine, citrate, TMAO, phenylalanine, tyrosine, alanine, glycine and taurine). The levels of creatinine, citrate, TMAO, phenylalanine and tyrosine were decreased, whereas the levels of alanine, glycine and taurine were increased in the KYDS patients. These biochemical changes were found to be associated with alterations in amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and gut microflora. CONCLUSION: The identification of distinct expression profiles of metabolites and signaling pathways in KYDS patients with DM suggests that there are indeed molecular signatures underlying the principles of 'Syndrome Differentiation' in traditional Chinese medicine.

Metabolomic Profiling of Autoimmune Hepatitis: The Diagnostic Utility of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is often confused with other liver diseases because of their shared nonspecific symptoms and serological and histological overlap. This study compared the plasma metabolomic profiles of patients with AIH, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), PBC/AIH overlap syndrome (OS), and drug-induced liver injury (DILI) with those of healthy subjects to identify potential biomarkers of AIH. Metabolomic profiling and biomarker screening were performed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) coupled with a partial least-squares discriminant analysis. Compared with the levels in healthy volunteers and other liver disease patients, AIH patients exhibited relatively high levels of plasma pyruvate, lactate, acetate, acetoacetate, and glucose. Such metabolites are typically related to energy metabolism alterations and may be a sign of metabolic conversion to the aerobic glycolysis phenotype of excessive immune activation. Increased aromatic amino acids and decreased branched-chain amino acids were found in the plasma of AIH patients. The whole NMR profiles were stepwise-reduced, and nine metabolomic biomarkers having the greatest significance in the discriminant analysis were obtained. The diagnostic utility of the selected metabolites was assessed, and these biomarkers achieved good sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy (all above 93%) in distinguishing AIH from PBC, DILI, and OS. This report is the first to present the metabolic phenotype of AIH and the potential utility of 1H NMR metabolomics in the diagnosis of AIH.

Comparative study on effects of Xiaoyao Powder and its modified prescription on plasma metabolomics of rats with chronic immobilization stress.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the changes in the levels of endogenous metabolites in rats with chronic immobilization stress (CIS) taking Xiaoyao Powder (XYP) and its modified prescription version, which lacks the volatile oils extracted from Herba Menthae. METHODS: Twenty-four experimental male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each: control, model, XYP-1 (containing volatile oils from Herba Menthae), and XYP-2 (lacking volatile oils). All rats except control group rats were subjected to CIS 3 h per day for 21 consecutive days. Groups XYP-1 and XYP-2 were given the extracted XYS with or without volatile oils (3.854 g/kg; suspended in distilled water) via gavage 1 h before CIS each day for 21 days. Rats were anesthetized using intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital sodium (40 mg/kg) on the 22nd day. Observations were made using a Varian INOVA 600 MHz NMR spectrometer at 27 °C. Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) and longitudinal eddy-delay (LED) were applied, resulting in spectra showing only the signals from micro- and macro-metabolites. RESULTS: Compared to controls, rats subjected to CIS showed increased levels of plasma metabolites, such as acetic acid, choline, N-glycoprotein (NAC), saturated fatty acid, and blood sugars. Levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), and unsaturated fatty acids were decreased. The biochemical effects of XYS were characterized by elevated levels of VLDL, LDL, threonine, methionine, and glutamic acid in plasma. CONCLUSION: Some common and characteristic metabolites on the anti-CIS of XYP and its modified prescription were obtained. The metabolomics technology is a valuable tool and may be used to identify the specific metabolites and potential biomarkers of therapeutic effect of Chinese medicinal prescriptions.

Revealing metabolite biomarkers for acupuncture treatment by linear programming based feature selection.

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has been practiced in China for thousands of years as part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and has gradually accepted in western countries as an alternative or complementary treatment. However, the underlying mechanism of acupuncture, especially whether there exists any difference between varies acupoints, remains largely unknown, which hinders its widespread use. RESULTS: In this study, we develop a novel Linear Programming based Feature Selection method (LPFS) to understand the mechanism of acupuncture effect, at molecular level, by revealing the metabolite biomarkers for acupuncture treatment. Specifically, we generate and investigate the high-throughput metabolic profiles of acupuncture treatment at several acupoints in human. To select the subsets of metabolites that best characterize the acupuncture effect for each meridian point, an optimization model is proposed to identify biomarkers from high-dimensional metabolic data from case and control samples. Importantly, we use nearest centroid as the prototype to simultaneously minimize the number of selected features and the leave-one-out cross validation error of classifier. We compared the performance of LPFS to several state-of-the-art methods, such as SVM recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) and sparse multinomial logistic regression approach (SMLR). We find that our LPFS method tends to reveal a small set of metabolites with small standard deviation and large shifts, which exactly serves our requirement for good biomarker. Biologically, several metabolite biomarkers for acupuncture treatment are revealed and serve as the candidates for further mechanism investigation. Also biomakers derived from five meridian points, Zusanli (ST36), Liangmen (ST21), Juliao (ST3), Yanglingquan (GB34), and Weizhong (BL40), are compared for their similarity and difference, which provide evidence for the specificity of acupoints. CONCLUSIONS: Our result demonstrates that metabolic profiling might be a promising method to investigate the molecular mechanism of acupuncture. Comparing with other existing methods, LPFS shows better performance to select a small set of key molecules. In addition, LPFS is a general methodology and can be applied to other high-dimensional data analysis, for example cancer genomics.

[Efficacy of lamivudine on acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with chronic hepatitis B].

To observe the therapeutic effects of lamivudine treatment in patients with early- to mid-stage hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). Clinical data of 73 hospitalized patients with HBV-ACLF were retrospectively analyzed. Prothrombin time (PT, active coagulation), HBV DNA, and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score data from treatment weeks 4, 8, 24, and 48 were collected and analyzed using the statistical t-test. During the treatment duration, the complete virologic response rates were 57.5% (42/73) at 4 weeks, 71.0% (44/62) at 8 weeks, 83.1% (49/59) at 24 weeks, and 86.5% (45/52) at 48 weeks. The partial virologic response rates were 30.1% (22/73) at 4 weeks, 25.8% (16/62) at 8 weeks, 17.0% (10/59) at 24 weeks, and 13.5% (7/52) at 48 weeks. At week 48, the survival rate was 71.2% (52/73) and the probability of survival was higher in the complete virological response rate (VRR) group than in the partial VRR group [45/73 (61.6%) vs. 7/73 (30.1%), respectively; P = 0.000]. In addition, there were significant improvements in the serum normalization rate of HBV DNA, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, total bilirubin, PT and MELD score in surviving patients compared to baseline (P less than 0.05) and in the complete VRR group compared to the partial VRR group (P less than 0.05). Antiviral therapy using lamivudine may be an effective therapeutic option for patients with HBV-ACLF.

Metabolomic analysis of biochemical changes in the plasma and urine of first-episode neuroleptic-naïve schizophrenia patients after treatment with risperidone.

Early findings propose that impaired neurotransmission in the brain plays a key role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Recent advances in understanding its multiple etiologies and pathogenetic mechanisms provide more speculative hypotheses focused on even broader somatic systems. Using a targeted tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based metabolomic platform, we compared metabolic signatures consisting of monoamine and amino acid neurotransmitter (NT) metabolites in plasma/urine simultaneously between first-episode neuroleptic-naïve schizophrenia patients (FENNS) and healthy controls before and after a 6-week risperidone monotherapy, which suggest that the patient NT profiles are restoring during treatment. To detect and identify potential biomarkers associated with schizophrenia and risperidone treatment, we also performed a combined ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomic profiling of the same samples, indicating a further deviation of the patients' global metabolic profile from that of controls. The NTs and their metabolites together with the 32 identified biomarkers underpin that metabolic pathways including NT metabolism, amino acid metabolism, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, energy metabolism, antioxidant defense system, bowel microflora and endocrine system are disturbed in FENNS. Among them, pregnanediol, citrate and α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) were significantly associated with symptomatology of schizophrenia after Bonferroni correction and may be useful biomarkers for monitoring therapeutic efficacy. These findings promise to yield valuable insights into the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and may advance the approach to treatment, diagnosis and disease prevention of schizophrenia and related syndromes.

[Primary anylasis on the methodology and strategies for studying mechanisms of acu-moxibustion by using metabonomics].

Metabonomics is a newly emerging modern technology in the Post-genome era and has been being used widely in the study on modern Chinese medicine. But it have been rarely used in the study on acupuncture therapy. In the present paper, the authors introduce the unique advantages of metabonomics in the systemtic biology and its widespread studying basis in the field of modern Chinese medicine. Metabonomics and Chinese medicine including acupuncturology are of some similar characteristics such as entirety, comprehensiveness and dynamic changes. Moreover, the authors make a primary discussion and strategic analysis on the key issues of researches about sham acupuncture, chrono-acupuncture, mechanisms of acu-moxibustion underlying improvement of clinical severe disorders and various indications problems, regularities of combination of acupoints in different recipes, etc. by using metabonomics.

Interaction with polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin alters cellular distribution and RNA processing of huntingtin yeast two-hybrid protein A (HYPA).

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal inherited disorder that causes the deterioration of brain cells. The polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion of huntingtin (Htt) is implicated in the pathogenesis of HD via interaction with an RNA splicing factor, Htt yeast two-hybrid protein A/forming-binding protein 11 (HYPA/FBP11). Besides the pathogenic polyQ expansion, Htt also contains a proline-rich region (PRR) located exactly in the C terminus to the polyQ tract. However, how the polyQ expansion influences the PRR-mediated protein interaction and how this abnormal interaction leads to the biological consequence remain elusive. Our NMR structural analysis indicates that the PRR motif of Htt cooperatively interacts with the tandem WW domains of HYPA through domain chaperoning effect of WW1 on WW2. The polyQ-expanded Htt sequesters HYPA to the cytosolic location and then significantly reduces the efficiency of pre-mRNA splicing. We propose that the toxic gain-of-function of the polyQ-expanded Htt that causes dysfunction of cellular RNA processing contributes to the pathogenesis of HD.

[Effects of electroacupuncture of "Weishu" (BL 21) and "Zhongwan" (CV 12) on serum large molecular metabolites in functional dyspepsia rats].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) of Shu-acupoint "Weishu" (BL 21), Mu-acupoint "Zhongwan" (CV 12) and BL 21 + CV 12 on serum large molecular metabolites in functional dyspepsia (FD) rats. METHODS: A total of 50 Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, model, BL 21, CV 12 and BL 21 + CV 12 groups (n = 10/group). FD model was established by clamping the rats' tails for 30 min, once every 3 h, 4 times daily for 7 days. EA was applied to BL 21,CV 12, or BL 21 + CV 12, respectively for 20 min, once daily for 10 days. The rats' venous blood was collected for detecting large molecular metabolites by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer (Varian UnityInova, 600 MHz). Segmental integral calculus (0.04 ppm per segment) was performed from 6.0-0 ppm (longitudinal eddy-delay, LED) as defaulted 1H spectra values by using the VNMR software. Data was saved as text or excel files after normalization and then used for pattern recognition analyses. All the data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) using the SIMCA-P 10.04 software (Umetrics AB, Umea, Sweden), and orthogonal signal correction and partial least squares discriminant analysis (OSC-PLS-DA). RESULTS: The rat serum proton-LED-1H NMR spectra revealed different metabolic spectra among control,model, BL 21, CV 12, and BL 21 + CV 12 groups. PCA and OSC-PLS-DA showed that compared with the normal control group, FD rats in model group displayed serum N-acetylglucoprotein (NAc) content was reduced considerably, high density lipoprotein (HDL) level decreased to a certain degree, while very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)/LDL increased significantly. In comparison with model group, VLDL/LDL was decreased in BL 21, CV 12 and BL 21 + CV 12 groups, while NAc content increased. Compared with BL 21 and CV 12 groups respectively, HDL level in BL 21 + CV 12 increased to a certain degree. CONCLUSION: EA of BL 21, CV 12 and BL 21 + CV 12 groups can reverse or relieve FD induced increase of VLDL/LDL and decrease of serum NAc level in rats, which may contribute to its function in improving symptoms of FD patients.

[Nephrotoxicity study of Aristolochia fangchi in rats by metabonomics].

OBJECTIVE: To study the changes of metabolites in rat urine after treatment of Aristolochia fangchi decoction by metabonomic method. METHODS: Sixty-four male SD rats were divided into Aristolochia fangchi group and normal control group. Rats in the Aristolochia fangchi group were orally administered with 8.1 g/(kg.d) of Aristolochia fangchi and the normal control group was administered with equal volume of distilled water for 4 weeks. Twenty-four hour urine was collected at different time points (before, after 2- and 4-week administration and 2 weeks after administration) and their H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were acquired and subjected to data process, including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) or orthogonal signal correction (OSC). The contents of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr) and histopathological changes of the renal tissues were also detected. RESULTS: The content of BUN of the Aristolochia fangchi group was markedly higher than that of the normal control group after 2-week administration (P<0.05), and cellular edema in tubular endothelial cells, structure damage of glomeruli and inflammatory cell infiltration were found in the kidney. Along with the lasting of administration to 4-week, the renal injury in the Aristolochia fangchi group became more serious, and the contents of BUN and SCr were all significantly higher as compared with the normal control group (P<0.05). Two weeks after administration, the content of BUN in the Aristolochia fangchi group was still higher than that in the normal control group (P<0.05), and the pathological changes in renal tissues were not different from those on the 4th week. The urine of the Aristolochia fangchi group could be readily discriminated from the normal control group at every time point based on PCA. During the whole administration period, compared with the normal control group, the concentration of urinary taurine was increased time-dependently, while the citrate was decreased in the Aristolochia fangchi group. The concentration of hippurate was increased at the 2nd week and the 6th week (2 weeks after drug withdrawal) but decreased at the 4th week; the concentration of creatinine/creatine was increased at the 4th week but decreased at the 6th week; the concentration of 2-oxo-glutarate was decreased and the concentration of trimethylamine oxide was increased at the 4th and 6th week. CONCLUSION: High-dose Aristolochia fangchi can induce renal lesion and its seriousness is correspondent to the lasting of administration. Aristolochia fangchi may also have toxicity on liver.

[Effects of acute hypoxia on plasma metabolome in mice].

AIM: To explore the metabolic effects of acute hypoxia on mice plasma. METHODS: Fourteen mice were randomly divided into two groups: control and hypoxia group. The mice of hypoxia group were exposed to a simulated altitude of 6000 meters for 8 hours. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer was used to identify the metabolic changes after acute hypoxia. RESULTS: Compared with control, the most notable significantly after acute hypoxia exposure. remarkably and lactate increased metabolic changes in plasma were as follows: camrnitine decreased levels of lipids and pyruvate, alanine, taurine, Decreases in levels of beta-HB, ethanol glycerol, glutamate, glycine and serine, and increased choline, glucose, and glutamine were also observed in hypoxia group. CONCLUSION: Significant changes in the plasma carbohydrate, lipid and amino acid profiles were observed following acute hypoxia, suggesting a hypoxia-induced alteration in energy and related substances metabolism.

Different roles for two ubiquitin-like domains of ISG15 in protein modification.

ISG15 (interferon-stimulated gene 15) is a novel ubiquitin-like (UbL) modifier with two UbL domains in its architecture. We investigated different roles for the two UbL domains in protein modification by ISG15 (ISGylation) and the impact of Influenza B virus NS1 protein (NS1B) on regulation of the pathway. The results show that, although the C-terminal domain is sufficient to link ISG15 to UBE1L and UbcH8, the N-terminal domain is dispensable in the activation and transthiolation steps but required for efficient E3-mediated transfer of ISG15 from UbcH8 to its substrates. NS1B specifically binds to the N-terminal domain of ISG15 but does not affect ISG15 linkage via a thioester bond to its activating and conjugating enzymes. However, it does inhibit the formation of cellular ISG15 conjugates upon interferon treatment. We propose that the N-terminal UbL domain of ISG15 mainly functions in the ligation step and NS1B inhibits ISGylation by competing with E3 ligases for binding to the N-terminal domain.

[Metabonomic profile of urine from rats administrated with different treatment period of rifampin].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of rifampin (RFP) on the metabonomic profile of rat urine and its relationship with traditional toxicity evaluation of blood biochemical indicators and histopathology. METHODS: Thirty-six male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group, 50 mg/kg RFP group, and 100 mg/kg RFP group, with 12 rats in each group. Rats in each group were given intragastric infusion with a daily dose of 0, 50 mg/kg RFP, and 100 mg/kg RFP for 3, 7, and 14 days, respectively. Then 4 rats in each group were killed on the next day of administration to collect blood samples and liver sample for the determination of blood biochemical indicators and for the pathological analysis of the liver. The urine specimens over 24 hours of each rat were collected before and after each treatment until the rat was killed. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra of these urine specimens were acquired and subjected to data preprocess and principal component analyses (PCA). RESULTS: The level of serum total bilirubin of the rat administrated with 100 mg/(kg x d) RFP for 7 days was significantly higher than that of control group (P < 0.05). Mild hepatotoxicity to the rat, treated with RFP of higher dosage (100 mg/kg) and longer duration (14 days), was revealed by the traditional histopathological method. The metabonomic spectra of rat urine in different groups differed from each other; a trajectory bias in determination of rat urine by 1H NMR occurred depending on the administration duration. As demonstrated by 1H NMR spectra of urine in rats treated with RFP, the concentration of urinary citrate and 2-oxoglutarate decreased, along with the remarkable increase of the concentrations of urinary taurine and glucose (compared with those of the control group). CONCLUSIONS: Being consistent with the results of traditional toxicity evaluation measurements, metabonomic method is more sensitive. The 1H-NMR metabonomic profile of the rat urine is closely related with the duration of RFP. The hepatic toxicity induced by RFP is related to the reduction of energy metabolism in tricarboxylic acid cycle and the perturbation of glucose and lipid metabolism.

NMR-spectroscopy-based metabonomic approach to the analysis of Bay41-4109, a novel anti-HBV compound, induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

An integrated metabonomics study using high-resolution (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the biochemical composition of urine, serum, liver tissue aqueous extracts (acetonitrile/water) and liver tissue lipidic extracts (chloroform/methanol) obtained from control and Bay41-4109 treated rats (10, 50, 400mg.kg(-1).d(-1) for 5 days, i.g.). Principal components analysis was used to visualize similarities and differences in biochemical profiles. The results showed the effects induced by Bay41-4109 at 400mg.kg(-1).d(-1) are different from those induced at 10, 50mg.kg(-1).d(-1). The biochemical profiles of 400mg.kg(-1).d(-1) group might reflect the hepatotoxicity of Bay41-4109 more exactly. The elevation in the level of 3-HB, lactate, 2-hydroxy-acetol and d-glucose was found in the urine, and the levels of VLDL/LDL(CH(2))(n), VLDL/LDL-CH(3), 2-oxo-3-methyl-n-valerate, 3-HB, lactate, acetate, taurine, 2-hydroxy-isovalerate in serum were increased significantly in 400mg.kg(-1).d(-1) group. The predominant changes identified in liver tissue aqueous extracts included an increase in the signal intensities of lactate, 3-amino-isovalerate, pyruvate, choline, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) and a reduction in the intensities of taurine, hippurate and d-glucose. In liver tissue chloroform/methanol extracts, there was a remarkably increase in many of the lipid signals including the triglyceride terminal methyl, methylene groups, and CH(2)CO, N(+)(CH(3))(3), CH(2)OPO(2), CH(2)OCOR. These observations all provide evidence that fatty acid metabolism disorder and mitochondrial inability might contribute to the hepatotoxicity of Bay41-4109. The application of (1)H NMR spectroscopy to an array of biological samples comprising urine, serum and liver tissue extracts yields new insight into the hepatotoxicity of xenobiotics.

[Metabonomic study of blood plasma in the assessment of liver graft function].

OBJECTIVE: To access the capability of 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) -based metabonomics in the evaluation of graft function in the perioperation period of liver transplantation. METHODS: Plasma samples of 15 male primary hepatic carcinoma patients were collected for clinical biochemical analysis and 1H NMR spectroscopy 1 day before operation, 1 day and 1 week after the operation. The NMR data were analyzed using principal component analysis. RESULTS: Metabonomic analysis indicated that, compared with those before operation, blood concentrations of valine, alanine, acetone, succinic acid, glutamine, choline, lactate, and glucose increased significantly 1 day after transplantation. One week later, the levels of lipids and choline increased notably, while those of glucose and amino acids decreased. Principal component analysis showed significant difference between metabolic profiles of plasma samples of variant periods of liver transplantation, due to the variation of the levels of glucose, lipids, lactate, and choline. A good agreement was observed between clinical chemistry and metabonomic data. CONCLUSIONS: Metabonomic analysis can clearly identify the difference between the plasma samples of primary hepatic carcinoma patients at different time during the perioperation period of liver transplantation. It therefore may be a promising new technology in predicting the outcomes of liver transplantation.

[Metabonomics profile of urine from rats administrated with different treatment period of isoniazid].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of different treatment period, of isoniazid (INH) on the metabonomic profile of rat urine and its relationship with traditional toxicity evaluation of blood biochemical indicators and histopathology and to explore the feasibility of metabonomics in the application of drug toxicity. METHODS: Sixty male Wistar rats were orally administrated with 0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg x kg(-1) INH for 3, 7, and 14 days, respectively. Rat urine was then collected and its 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were acquired. All animals underwent traditional toxicity evaluation. RESULTS: Hepatotoxicity was revealed by traditional toxicity evaluation in rats treated with higher dosage and longer treatment of INH. Time-response relationship existed during the treatment. Time-dependent metabonomics changes conformed with the results of traditional toxicity evaluation. The urine metabonomics showed a trajectory bias from those of the controls or pre-administration, and such bias exaggerated along with the prolongation of treatment, indicating a severer toxic injury. Along with the increase of the concentrations of urinary taurine and glucose and the decrease of the concentrations of urinary citrate and 2-oxoglutarate, the 1H NMR spectra of urine in rats treated with INH also changed. CONCLUSIONS: The metabonomics technique can distinguish the onset and development of toxicity, which helps track and identify biomarkers. The hepatic toxicity induced by INH is related to the injury of mitochondrial function, reduction of energy metabolism in tricarboxylic acid cycle, and perturbations in the metabolism of glucose and lipid. The effect of INH on the rat urine metabonomic profile is related with INH toxicology. Therefore, metabonomics can be recognized as an ideal technique to explore and evaluate the drug toxicities.

Structural insights into the specific binding of huntingtin proline-rich region with the SH3 and WW domains.

The interactions of huntingtin (Htt) with the SH3 domain- or WW domain-containing proteins have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD). We report the specific interactions of Htt proline-rich region (PRR) with the SH3GL3-SH3 domain and HYPA-WW1-2 domain pair by NMR. The results show that Htt PRR binds with the SH3 domain through nearly its entire chain, and that the binding region on the domain includes the canonical PxxP-binding site and the specificity pocket. The C terminus of PRR orients to the specificity pocket, whereas the N terminus orients to the PxxP-binding site. Htt PRR can also specifically bind to WW1-2; the N-terminal portion preferentially binds to WW1, while the C-terminal portion binds to WW2. This study provides structural insights into the specific interactions between Htt PRR and its binding partners as well as the alteration of these interactions that involve PRR, which may have implications for the understanding of HD.

The NMR studies on two new furostanol saponins from Agave sisalana leaves.

The detailed NMR studies and full assignments of the 1H and 13C spectral data for two new furostanol saponins isolated from Agave sisalana leaves are described. Their structures were established using a combination of 1D and 2D NMR techniques including 1H, 13C, 1H-1H COSY, TOCSY, HSQC, HMBC and HSQC-TOCSY, and also FAB-MS spectrometry and chemical methods. The structures were established as (25S)-26-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-22 xi-hydroxyfurost-12-one-3beta-yl-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-O-[O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-galacto- pyranoside (1) and (25S)-26-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-22xi-hydroxyfurost-5-en-12-one-3beta-yl-O-alpha-L-rhamno- pyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-O-[O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl- (1-->4)-beta-D-galactopyranoside (2).

Furostanol saponins from the fresh rhizomes of Polygonatum kingianum.

Ten furostanol saponins were isolated as five pairs of 25R and 25S epimers from the fresh rhizomes of Polygonatum kingianum. Seven of them were identified as new compounds, (25S)-kingianoside D (2), (25S)-kingiano-side C (4), (25R,22)-hydroxylwattinoside C (5), kingianoside E (7), (25S)-kingianoside E (8), kingianoside F (9) and (25S)-kingianoside F (10), together with three known saponins, kingianoside C (1), kingianoside D (3), and 22-hydroxylwattinoside C (6). The structures of the new saponins were determinded by detailed analysis of their 1D and 2D NMR spectra, and by comparison of the spectral data with those reported.