A metabolomic study using HPLC-TOF/MS coupled with ingenuity pathway analysis: Intervention effects of Rhizoma Alismatis on spontaneous hypertensive rats.

Rhizoma Alismatis, an important crude herb component in traditional Chinese medicine, has been commonly used for treating hypertension, but its mechanism has not been clarified in level of metabolic. Therefore, in the present work, metabolomics study coupled with ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) have been performed to explore the potential mechanism in anti-hypertensive effect of Rhizoma Alismatis. Serum samples from SHRs and WKYs were analyzed with the use of high performance liquid chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry detection (HPLC-TOF/MS) in positive polarity. The obtained data sets were statistically analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical analyses including the principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) for pattern recognition and selection of significant metabolites. 12 potential biomarkers in rat serum were screened out from HMDB, METLIN and KEGG databases. Furthermore, IPA was introduced and Glycerophospholipid metabolism and Purine metabolism were filtered out as potential target pathways. This metabolomic approach coupled with IPA provided a feasible way to understand the therapeutic mechanism of Rhizoma Alismatis on spontaneous hypertensive rats.