Metabolomic study of the mechanism of Dai medicine <italic>Orthosiphon stamineus</italic> on “Jiajie”

Abstract

Herb genomics constitutes the metabolomics of Chinese medicine. Dai medicine is one of the “four national medicines” in China, which are based on a theoretically perfect system, and “Jiajie” has a unique medical theory. Clerodendranthus spicatus (Thunb.) C. Y. Wu (Lamiaceae) ( Orthosiphon stamineus Thunb., OS), is one of the Dai “antidote” medicines and has significant health care applications and “detoxification” properties in the clinical setting. This study used HPLC-MS to detect changes in metabolites in rat urine and serum after the oral administration of OS extract. The orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) method was employed to analyze metabolites of rat urine and serum in OS and control groups, and 39 differential metabolites in urine and 26 in serum were screened out. Finally, related metabolic pathways were analyzed using the MetaboAnalyst website. The oral administration of OS extract mainly affected the citrate cycle (TCA cycle), taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism pathways. Our findings suggested that oral OS extract administration may improve basic metabolite levels and immunity in humans by improving the detoxification ability of the body through an “antidote” mechanism. This study provides a scientific basis for elucidating the mechanism underlying “detoxification” by OS. Moreover, this study offers a point of reference for the clinical application of OS, development of “Jiajie” species in the Dai medicine, and the clarification of “preventive treatment of disease” theory in traditional Chinese medicine.