Abstract
Traditional Korean Medicine classifies stroke into four subtype patterns according to symptomatic pattern identification: Qi deficiency (QD), Yin deficiency (YD), Dampness-phlegm (DP), and Fire and Heat (FH). This study investigated the difference in metabolic profiles of plasma comparing subjects displaying non-DP and DP patterns. A total of 141 patients with cerebral infarction enrolled in this study were distributed as non-DP (N = 68) and DP (N = 73). Anthropometric parameters and symptom/sign index were measured. Metabolic profiling was performed using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The Ratio of subjects with slippery pulse was higher in DP pattern, but fine pulse was lower than that in non-DP pattern. As a result of metabolomics analysis, twenty-one metabolites displayed different levels between non-DP and DP patterns. Two were identified as lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs), LPC(18:2), and LPC(20:3) having an unsaturated acyl chain and showed lower levels in DP pattern than in non-DP pattern (P = 0.015, 0.034, resp.). However, the saturated LPCs, LPC(18:0) and LPC(16:0), exhibited slight but statistically insignificant elevation in DP pattern. Our results demonstrated that plasma LPCs with polyunsaturated fatty acid groups were associated with DP pattern and suggest that variation of plasma lipid profiles may serve as potential biomarker for diagnosis of DP pattern.
Highlights
Pattern Identification (PI) is a unique diagnosis system of traditional medicine practiced in East Asian countries including China, Korea, and Japan and provides information that guides appropriate treatment of patient disease
Previous reports described how traditional Korean medicine (TKM) categorizes stroke as four patterns according to their symptoms and sign: Qi deficiency (QD), Dampness-phlegm (DP), Yin deficiency (YD), and Fire and Heat (FH) [1]
Subjects had to be enrolled as cerebral infarction (CI) patients within three days of the onset, and their symptoms were confirmed by imaging diagnosis, using computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)
Summary
Pattern Identification (PI) is a unique diagnosis system of traditional medicine practiced in East Asian countries including China, Korea, and Japan and provides information that guides appropriate treatment of patient disease. Previous reports described how traditional Korean medicine (TKM) categorizes stroke as four patterns according to their symptoms and sign: Qi deficiency (QD), Dampness-phlegm (DP), Yin deficiency (YD), and Fire and Heat (FH) [1]. The DP pattern is associated with overweight/obesity and dyslipidemia [3,4,5,6]. The diagnosis of PI depends on symptoms/sign exhibited by patients, which may be interpreted incorrectly. NPY and UCP2 and PON1, related with obesity and dyslipidemia, were significantly associated with DP pattern in Korean stroke patients [8, 9, 13]
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