ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE:Si-miao-yong-an Decoction (SMYA) can clear heat, detoxify, enhance blood flow, and remove blood stasis. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that SMYA exerts therapeutic effects against thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO). However, its key active components and underlying mechanism in TAO treatment remain unclear.
AIM OF THE STUDY:Establish a rat model of TAO, confirm the efficacy of SMYA in improving TAO by signs, and explore the potential mechanism of action of SMYA to improve TAO.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:Establishment of Sprague Dawley (SD) rat TAO model by femoral artery injection of sodium laurate. Firstly, the efficacy of SMYA was evaluated by coagulation quadruple, whole blood viscosity, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Secondly, establish an oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) induced HUVECs damage model and screen the activity of 19 components in SMYA. Non-targeted metabolomics were used to analyze Multiple statistical analysis or Biomarkers in the serum of TAO rats and cells, and their metabolic pathways and metabolic profiles were analyzed. Then, the core targets of the effect of potential active ingredients and blood migrating components in SMYA on TAO were screened by network pharmacology. Ultimately, the potential mechanism of SMYA in treating TAO was investigated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and Western blot (WB) to identify key genes or proteins associated with sphingolipid metabolism.
RESULTS:Day 2, the rat TAO model was successfully established. SMYA treatment improved coagulation degree and blood viscosity, improved femoral artery and muscle pathology characteristics. The results of HUVECs activity screening showed that Chlorogenic acid (CGA), Isochlorogenic acid A, and C had better activities. The results of serum and cell metabolomics showed that 25 and 38 differential metabolites were obtained, respectively, and the pathogenesis involved 13 and 19 metabolic pathways, respectively. IHC showed that SMYA decreased sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) et al. protein expression. RT-qPCR showed that SMYA decreased the expression of SPHK1 et al. genes. The results of protein immunoblotting assay showed that CGA reduced the expression of SPHK1 et al. proteins. This study aims to investigate the mechanism of action of SMYA in the treatment of TAO, which may inhibit the development of TAO by modulating the SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 signaling pathway.
CONCLUSION:This research focuses on the therapeutic effect of SMYA on TAO through pathological score, pathological analysis, biochemical analysis, metabolomics and network pharmacology. This evidence suggests that SMYA could inhibit the development of TAO by regulating the SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 signaling pathway of sphingolipid metabolism, which provided a reference for the potential mechanism of SMYA to improve TAO.