A non-target urinary and serum metabolomics strategy reveals therapeutical mechanism of Radix Astragali on adjuvant-induced arthritis rats.

Radix Astragali has been used traditionally in China to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in formulas. In this paper, we conducted a holistic evaluation of Radix Astragali acted on adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rats by urinary and serum metabolomic studies. Histological results and hind paw swelling were used to assess the joint damage, while the levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, SOD and MDA in serum were used to assess inflammation injury and oxidative stress. Metabolomic study and multivariate statistical analyses were used to investigate the differences between different groups. After processing with multivariate statistical analysis, 13 and 21 potential biomarkers were respectively found in urine and serum when Radix Astragali treatment group compared with model group. The main metabolism pathways in which Radix Astragali affected on AIA rats were tryptophan metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, citrate cycle metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, vitamin B6 metabolism and so on. The present study demonstrates that urinary and serum metabolomics method could be a potentially powerful tool to understand the holistic therapeutic effect and the mechanisms of herb medicines.