GC-MS- and LC-TOF-MS/MS-based ginger volatile oil serum analysis and the potential mechanism of the anticancer effect of serum component citral on MCF-7 breast cancer cells

Abstract Background To explore the blood components of ginger volatile oil (GVO) after gastric perfusion in rats and its different metabolites from blank serum and the network pharmacological analysis and preliminary verification of the main components against breast cancer. Methods A total of 20 male rats were randomly allocated to 10 control groups and 10 experimental groups. The administration group was given diluted GVO and the blank group was given the same amount of soybean oil (weigh 12 g of GVO diluted to 100 ml with soybean oil), the serum of rats in the given and blank groups was analyzed by gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and the differential metabolites were screened and enriched, and the blood components were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Results A total of 34 different metabolites were screened, and 31 original components were identified. The content of citral in volatile oil and serum is high, and the pathway of action is also closely related to the results of network pharmacology. Cell experiments showed that both drug-containing serum and citral significantly inhibited the proliferation and lateral transfer ability of breast cancer MCF-7 cells in a concentration and time-dependent manner, flow cytometry was used to measure apoptosis, and the experimental results showed that the proportion of early and late apoptosis was significantly increased in each group compared with the control group, and the proportion of total apoptosis showed a certain concentration-dependent trend. Conclusions A combination of serum metabolism, network pharmacology, and experiments was employed; this study offers a significant contribution to the clarification of the material basis and molecular mechanism of GVO- medicated serum against breast cancer.