Abstract
Background: Traditional Chinese Medicines have been used for thousands of years but without any sound empirical basis. One such preparation is the Qijudihuang pill (QP), a mixture of eight herbs, that has been used in China for the treatment of various conditions including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the aged population. In order to explain the mechanism behind the effect of QP, we used an AMD model of high-fat diet (HFD) fed mice to investigate cholesterol homeostasis, oxidative stress, inflammation and gut microbiota.
Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups, one group was fed with
control diet (CD), the other two groups were fed with high-fat-diet (HFD). One
HFD group was treated with QP, both CD and the other HFD groups were treated
with vehicles. Tissue samples were collected after the treatment. Cholesterol
levels in retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), liver and serum were
determined using a commercial kit. The expression of enzymes involved in
cholesterol metabolism, inflammation and oxidative stress was measured with
qRT-PCR. Gut microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing.
Results: In the majority of the lipid determinations, analytes were elevated by HFD but thiswas reversed by QP. Cholesterol metabolism including the enzymes of bile acid (BA) formationwas suppressed by HFD but again thiswas reversed by QP. BAs play amajor role in signaling between host andmicrobiome and this is disrupted by HFD resulting in major changes in the composition of colonic bacterial communities. Associated with these changes are predictions of the metabolic pathway complexity and abundance of individual pathways. These concerned substrate breakdowns, energy production and the biosynthesis of proinflammatory factors but were changed back to control characteristics by QP.
Conclusion: We propose that the ability of QP to reverse these HFD-induced
effects is related to mechanisms acting to lower cholesterol level, oxidative stress and inflammation, and to modulate gut microbiota.
Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups, one group was fed with
control diet (CD), the other two groups were fed with high-fat-diet (HFD). One
HFD group was treated with QP, both CD and the other HFD groups were treated
with vehicles. Tissue samples were collected after the treatment. Cholesterol
levels in retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), liver and serum were
determined using a commercial kit. The expression of enzymes involved in
cholesterol metabolism, inflammation and oxidative stress was measured with
qRT-PCR. Gut microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing.
Results: In the majority of the lipid determinations, analytes were elevated by HFD but thiswas reversed by QP. Cholesterol metabolism including the enzymes of bile acid (BA) formationwas suppressed by HFD but again thiswas reversed by QP. BAs play amajor role in signaling between host andmicrobiome and this is disrupted by HFD resulting in major changes in the composition of colonic bacterial communities. Associated with these changes are predictions of the metabolic pathway complexity and abundance of individual pathways. These concerned substrate breakdowns, energy production and the biosynthesis of proinflammatory factors but were changed back to control characteristics by QP.
Conclusion: We propose that the ability of QP to reverse these HFD-induced
effects is related to mechanisms acting to lower cholesterol level, oxidative stress and inflammation, and to modulate gut microbiota.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1274401 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Immunology |
| Volume | 14 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Oct 2023 |
Keywords
- age-related macular degeneration
- cholesterol
- gut microbiota
- inflammation
- oxidative stress
- Qijudihuang pill
- traditional Chinese medicine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology