Study on the pharmacodynamics and metabolomics of five medicinal species in Atractylodes DC. on rats with rheumatoid arthritis

Atractylodes DC. mainly includes Atractylodis Rhizoma and Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizoma. According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Atractylodis Rhizoma is the rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. (A. lancea) and Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz. (A. chinensis), while Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizoma is the rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (A. macrocephala). Although Atractylodes japonica Koidz. ex Kitam. (A. japonica) and Atractylodes coreana (Nakai) Kitam. (A. coreana) are not included in the Pharmacopoeia, they are often used as Atractylodis Rhizoma in northern China. But in Japan, A. japonica is used as Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizoma. In order to compare the efficacy of A. japonica and A. coreana with that of Atractylodis Rhizoma and Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizomain in Pharmacopoeia, this paper studies the anti rheumatism of the five medicinal species in Atractylodes DC., and provides the basis for the rational application of A. japonica and A. coreana. With this purpose, the rheumatoid model of rats was established by Freund's complete adjuvant. Then, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF - α), arthritis factor (RF), anti cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), Nuclear factor-κB (NF - κB), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in rats of each group. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was used to analyze the plasma of each group. After that, multivariate statistical analysis method was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the five medicinal species in Atractylodes DC. can reduce the levels of IL-6, IL-1 β, PGE2 and NF - κB in the plasma of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rats in varying degrees, among which the regulation of A. macrocephala is relatively weak. A. chinensis, A. lancea, A. coreana and A. japonica can significantly reduce the content of TNF - α, in which A. japonica and A. lancea have better and similar regulatory effects. A. chinensis and A. coreana can significantly reduce the content of RF in arthritis rats. A. coreana, A. lancea and A. japonica can significantly reduce the anti-CCP level, that is, the regulatory effect of A. coreana and A. chinensis is similar. The metabolic disorder of 11-deoxycortisol, taurocholate and other small molecules in the body of rats with RA directly affects the metabolic pathways of primary bile acid biosynthesis and steroid hormone biosynthesis, leading to the decline of immune function and other symptoms. Most of the metabolic pathways tend to be normal after oral administration of five medicinal species in Atractylodes DC. Among them, the regulating effect of A. coreana and A. chinensis is similar, while that of A. japonica and A. lancea are similar. A. macrocephala had little effect of intervention.