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other·ophthalmology, retina, preclinical research, animal science, nutrition·PMC10602650

Chinese medicine, Qijudihuang pill, mediates cholesterol metabolism and regulates gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice, implications for age-related macular degeneration

Frontiers in Immunology · 11 authors, 5 centres

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TL;DR

These findings suggest QP may alleviate AMD-related pathology through cholesterol metabolism and microbiome modulation.

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MICE WERE DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS

control diet (CD), high-fat diet (HFD), and HFD treated with Qijudihuang pill (QP). After treatment, cholesterol levels were measured in retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/choroid, liver, and serum; expression of cholesterol metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory genes was assessed by qRT-PCR; and gut microbiota was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. HFD elevated cholesterol levels, downregulated antioxidant genes (catalase, GPX, SOD1), and upregulated pro-inflammatory mediators (IL-1β, TNF-α) in examined tissues, and these effects were reversed by QP. HFD suppressed bile acid formation enzymes and disrupted bile acid signaling, leading to dysbiosis characterized by increased Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio, which QP partially restored. PICRUSt2 analysis predicted HFD increased pro-inflammatory metabolic pathways (enterobactin, polymixin B, lipopolysaccharide synthesis), reversed by QP. Limitations include the absence of human participants, unknown hepatotoxicity potential of QP, and the need for further investigation into specific molecular mechanisms.

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other

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ophthalmology

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ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10602650

Chinese medicine, Qijudihuang pill, mediates cholesterol metabolism and regulates gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice, implications for age-related macular degeneration

Frontiers in Immunology

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ABSTRACT

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 this was reversed by QP. Cholesterol metabolism including the enzymes of bile acid (BA) formation was suppressed by HFD but again this was reversed by QP. BAs play a major role in signaling between host and microbiome 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 pro-inflammatory 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. Keywords: traditional Chinese medicine, Qijudihuang pill, age-related macular degeneration, cholesterol, oxidative stress, inflammation, gut microbiota

CITATION EXPORT

Yanqun Cao, Khalid S Ibrahim, Xing Li et al.. Chinese medicine, Qijudihuang pill, mediates cholesterol metabolism and regulates gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice, implications for age-related macular degeneration. Frontiers in Immunology. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1274401

AUTHORS

11 · 5 CENTRES

Yanqun Cao, Khalid S Ibrahim, Xing Li, Aileen Wong, Yi Wu, Xu-Dong Yu, Xinzhi Zhou, Zhoujin Tan, Zhiming He, John A Craft, Xinhua Shu

1 Pu Ai Medical School, Shaoyang University, Shaoyang, Hunan, China
2 Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences , Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom
3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zakho, Zakho, Iraq
4 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China
5 Department of Vision Science , Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom