Integrating Data Mining with Metabolomics to Analyze the Mechanism of the "Pearl-Borneol" Pair in Promoting Healing of Diabetic Wounds

INTRODUCTION: Chronic diabetic wounds pose a significant threat to the health of diabetic patients, representing severe and enduring complications. Globally, an estimated 2.5% to 15% of the annual health budget is associated to diabetes, with diabetic wounds accounting for a substantial share. Exploring new therapeutic agents and approaches to address delayed and impaired wound healing in diabetes becomes imperative. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history and remarkable efficacy in treating chronic wound healing. METHODS: In this study, all topically applied Proprietary Chinese Medicines (pCMs) for wound healing officially approved by China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) were collected from the NMPA TCM database. Data mining was employed to obtain a highfrequency TCM ingredients pair, Pearl-Borneol (1:1). Subsequently, This study investigated the effect and molecular mechanism of the Pearl-Borneol pair on the healing of diabetic wounds by animal experiments and metabolomics. RESULTS: The animal experiments showed that the Pearl-Borneol pair significantly accelerated diabetic wound healing, exhibiting a more potent effect than the Pearl or Borneol treatment alone. Meanwhile, the metabolomics analysis identified significant differences in metabolic profiles in wounds between the Model and Normal groups, indicating that diabetic wounds had distinct metabolic characteristics from normal wounds. Moreover, Vaseline-treated wounds exhibited similar metabolic profiles to the wounds from the Model group, suggesting that Vaseline might have a negligible impact on diabetic wound metabolism. In addition, wounds treated with Pearl, Borneol, and Pearl-Borneol pair displayed significantly different metabolic profiles from Vaseline-treated wounds, signifying the influence of these treatments on wound metabolism. Subsequent enrichment analysis of the metabolic pathway highlighted the involvement of the arginine metabolic pathway, closely associated with diabetic wounds, in the healing process under Pearl-Borneol pair treatment. Further analysis revealed elevated levels of arginine and citrulline, coupled with reduced nitric oxide (NO) in both the Model and Vaseline-treated wounds compared to normal wounds, pointing to impaired arginine utilization in diabetic wounds. Interestingly, treatment with Pearl and Pearl-Borneol pair lowered arginine and citrulline levels while increasing NO content, suggesting that these treatments may promote the catabolism of arginine to generate NO, thereby facilitating faster wound closure. Additionally, Borneol alone significantly elevated NO content in wounds, potentially due to its ability to directly reduce nitrates/nitrites to NO. Oxidative stress is a defining characteristic of impaired metabolism in diabetic wounds. Our result showed that both Pearl and Pearl-Borneol pair decreased the oxidative stress biomarker methionine sulfoxide level in diabetic wounds compared to those treated with Vaseline, indicating that Pearl alone or combined with Borneol may enhance the oxidative stress microenvironment in diabetic wounds. CONCLUSION: In summary, the findings validate the effectiveness of the Pearl-Borneol pair in accelerating the healing of diabetic wounds, with effects on reducing oxidative stress, enhancing arginine metabolism, and increasing NO generation, providing a mechanistic basis for this therapeutic approach.