Investigating the mechanism of cornel iridoid glycosides on type 2 diabetes mellitus using serum and urine metabolites in rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Cornel iridoid glycosides (CIG) are extracted from Corni fructus, a herbal medicine used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diabetes. However, the antidiabetic effects of CIG and the underlying metabolic mechanisms require further exploration. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to assess the antidiabetic effects and metabolic mechanism of CIG by performing metabolomic analyses of serum and urine samples of rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was established by administering a low dose of streptozotocin (30 mg/kg) intraperitoneally after 4 weeks of feeding a high-fat diet. The model was evaluated based on several parameters, including fasting blood glucose (FBG), random blood glucose (RBG), urine volume, liver index, body weight, histopathological sections, and serum biochemical parameters. Subsequently, serum and urine metabolomics were analyzed using ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS). Data were analyzed using unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) and supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Differential metabolites were examined by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathways to explore the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: After 4 weeks of treatment with different doses of CIG, varying degrees of antidiabetic effects were observed, along with reduced liver and pancreatic injury, and improved oxidative stress levels. Compared with the T2DM group, 19 and 23 differential metabolites were detected in the serum and urine of the CIG treatment group, respectively. The key metabolites involved in pathway regulation include taurine, chenodeoxycholic acid, glycocholic acid, and L-tyrosine in the serum and glycine, hippuric acid, phenylacetylglycine, citric acid, and D-glucuronic acid in the urine, which are related to lipid, amino acid, energy, and carbohydrate metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the antidiabetic effects of CIG and revealed that CIG effectively controlled metabolic disorders in T2DM rats. This seems to be meaningful for the clinical application of CIG, and can benefit further studies on CIG mechanism.

[Effect of Water-Fertilizer-Gas Coupling on Soil N2O Emission and Yield in Greenhouse Tomato].

To reveal the effect of water, fertilizer, and gas coupling on soil N2O emissions in greenhouse tomato soil and suggest appropriate measures for increasing yield and reducing N2O emissions, static chamber-gas chromatography was used to study the effects of soil N2O emissions. The variation laws of soil temperature, water-filled pore space (WFPS), NO3--N content, and O2 content and the influence mechanism of N2O emission under the condition of water-fertilizer-gas coupling were analyzed. Aerated conditions comprised two water levels, 0.6 W and 1.0 W (representing 40% deficit irrigation and full irrigation, W represents when sufficient irrigation water was available), and three nitrogen levels (120 kg·hm-2, 180 kg·hm-2, and 240 kg·hm-2, representing low, medium, and high nitrogen, respectively, with 50% F, 75% F, and F, F is the recommended amount of nitrogen application locally). Three levels of fertilization were used as controlled unaerated full irrigation (O representing aeration, and CK representing conventional drip irrigation). Nine treatments were designed in the experiment. The results showed that the tomato field cumulative emission of N2O under full irrigation (W2F1O, W2F2O, and W2F3O) increased by an average of 55.7% compared with the corresponding treatment at W1 level (P<0.05). The N2O emissions of W1F3O, W2F3O, and W2F3CK fields significantly increased by 13.4% and 43.8% compared with medium nitrogen W1F2O, W2F2O, and W2F2CK and low nitrogen W1F1O, W2F1O, and W2F1CK treatments, respectively (P<0.05).Compared with the corresponding unaerated full irrigation, the emissions (W2F1O, W2F2O, and W2F3O) significantly increased by 11.2% (P<0.05). Aeration, the increase of nitrogen rate, and irrigation amount resulted in the increment of tomato yield and yield-scaled N2O emissions. Compared with medium nitrogen, the yield and yield-scaled N2O emission of high nitrogen treatment increased by 12.5% (P<0.05) and 3.9% (P>0.05), respectively. Compared with low nitrogen treatment, the yield and yield-scaled N2O emission of high nitrogen treatment increased by 30.4% and 9.6% (P<0.05), respectively. The yield and yield-scaled N2O emissions of aerated full irrigation significantly increased by 29.7% and 18.7%, respectively, compared with aerated deficient irrigation. Compared with unaerated irrigation treatment, the yield under aerated treatment increased by 10.4% (P<0.05), and the yield-scaled N2O emission increased by 3.9% (P>0.05). Under the conditions of increasing irrigation water, decreasing fertilizer application, and aeration, partial factor productivity, and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) can be significantly increased. After comprehensive consideration of cumulative N2O emissions, tomato production, nitrogen fertilizer utilization efficiency, IWUE, and yield-scaled N2O emission, it can be concluded that aerated low nitrogen full irrigation is an optimal management mode. The results provide reference for increasing yield and reducing emissions of greenhouse tomato.