Serum and kidney metabolic changes of rat nephrotoxicity induced by Morning Glory Seed

Previous nephrotoxicology study on Morning Glory Seed (MGS) mainly focused on whole animal level, using creatinine and BUN as biochemical indicators to evaluate renal function. This work was designed to delineate the comprehensive metabolic syndromes of MGS-induced nephrotoxicity. An ultra liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS) metabonomic approach was employed to characterize the metabolic profile of plasma and kidney tissue extract from rats treated with MGS at a single nephrotoxic dose of 15 g/kg/day for 14 consecutive days. Acquired data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) for differentiating the model and the control groups. The results indicated that certain metabolic pathways, such as lysophosphatidylcholines formation and sphingolipids cycle were accelerated, while the phenylalanine level in serum was decreased. We believe that metabonomic approach is helpful to further understanding and clinical diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) induced nephrotoxicity.