Aim:The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of action of Shenbao tablets
using metabolomics approach.Background:Kidney-Yang deficiency is a common syndrome type in traditional Chinese Medicine
(TCM) syndrome typology, closely related to disorders of multiple metabolic pathways and
is the root cause and underlying syndrome type of many diseases. Shenbao tablets can significantly
improve the main symptoms of kidney yang deficiency syndrome, but the mechanism of
action of Shenbao tablets on kidney yang deficiency syndrome is still unknown.Methods:The rats were intraperitoneally injected with hydrocortisone once a day for 40 days to
simulate the syndrome. Traditional pharmacodynamic indicators (body mass, biochemical indicators
and pathology) were used to evaluate the efficacy of the medicine. Serum, urine and feces
were collected from rats. UPLC/MS metabolomics method was used to study the overall metabolic
profile of serum, while GC/MS metabolomics method was used to study the metabolic
spectrum of urine and feces.Results:Results showed that the syndrome was significantly improved in the treatment group,
and obvious metabolic disorders were observed in rats with the syndrome, with 47 potential biomarkers
identified. Pathway analysis showed that nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, glycine,
serine and trione metabolism, aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, glycoxylate and dicarboxylate
metabolism were the major ways for Shenbao tablet to improve kidney-yang deficiency syndrome.Conclusion:The mechanism of action of Shenbao tablet in improving the syndrome involves the
regulation of energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, bile acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism
and intestinal microorganisms. This work shows that metabolomics is a promising tool
for studying the essence of syndrome theory in TCM and the mechanisms of TCM.
