Chinese Journal of Chromatography ›› 2014, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (5): 464-471.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2014.01006

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Application of metabolomics in treating polycystic ovary syndrome with berberine based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

LI Yanjie1, ZHANG Chunlan2, ZHANG Han3, ZHAO Xinjie1, HOU Lihui2, XU Guowang1   

  1. 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Sciences for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China;
    2. Gynaecological Clinic of First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China;
    3. Gynaecological Clinic of First Teaching Hospital, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China
  • Received:2014-01-03 Revised:2014-01-24 Online:2014-05-08 Published:2014-04-26

Abstract:

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex, heterogeneous disorder, which seriously impacts the health of reproductive age women. Thus reasonable individual-based treatment is important. In this study, the serum samples of 15 overweight PCOS patients before and after treatment with berberine for three months were collected for clinic biochemical test and metabolomic research. Metabolomic profiling based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (q-TOF MS) was used to investigate metabolic changes of PCOS. Compared with before treatment, the patients after berberine treatment can be separated into distinct clusters as displayed by the orthogonal signal correction partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OSC-PLS-DA) score plot with model parameter: R2Y=0.892, Q2(cum)=0.577, which indicated changes in metabolites after berberine treatment. The differential metabolites related to berberine treatment were selected when their variable importance values were more than 1, and p<0.05 with nonparametric test. These differential metabolites were all involved in lipids metabolism, including phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelin, stearic acid and erucamide. The pharmacological results and metabolomic data revealed that berberine can strengthen the sensitivity of insulin and rectify the dyslipidemia of overweight PCOS patients. This study also illustrates that the LC-MS based metabolomic method is helpful for evaluating the treatment of traditional Chinese medicines.

Key words: berberine, metabolomics, polycystic ovary syndrome, ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)

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