No abstract

Zhengtian pills (ZTPs) are traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) which have been commonly used to treat headaches. Volatile components of ZTPs extracted by ethyl acetate with an ultrasonic method were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Twenty-two components were identified, accounting for 78.884% of the total components of volatile oil. The three main volatile components including protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, and ligustilide were simultaneously determined using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection (UHPLC-DAD). Baseline separation was achieved on an XB-C18 column with linear gradient elution of methanol-0.2% acetic acid aqueous solution. The UHPLC-DAD method provided good linearity (R 2 ≥ 0.9992), precision (RSD < 3%), accuracy (100.68–102.69%), and robustness. The UHPLC-DAD/GC-MS method was successfully utilized to analyze volatile components, protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, and ligustilide, in 13 batches of ZTPs, which is suitable for discrimination and quality assessment of ZTPs.

Lipid metabolism is a critical process that occurs in the lipid-rich spinal cord during damage and repair. Here, we integrated ultrastructural characteristics with multi-omics analysis as well as transcriptomic, untargeted, targeted proteomic, lipidomic, and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) epitranscriptomic profiling in a clinically relevant spinal cord injury (SCI) model. We observed lipid accumulation, lysosome-based autophagy of lipid droplets, and remyelination in the lesion of the chronic phase. The analysis also revealed molecular alterations associated with the enhancement of glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and fatty acid metabolism, marked increases in triglyceride species with C16:0 fatty acyl chains, and adaptive changes in cholesterol metabolism. These changes included decreased uptake of cholesterol through Mylip upregulation, decreased synthesis through downregulation of Fdps and Hmgcs1, and increased efflux through Apoe upregulation. Among these, Mylip and Hmgcs1 are regulated by m6A methylation. Altogether, our findings revealed endogenous mechanisms in response to microenvironment changes, highlighting the potential of exploring lipid regulators for SCI treatment.