Pharmaceutical Biology (Jan 2020)

Comparison of the short-chain fatty acids in normal rat faeces after the treatment of Euphorbia kansui, a traditional Chinese medicine for edoema

  • Dongjing Jiang,
  • Sijia Guo,
  • An Kang,
  • Yonghui Ju,
  • Jingxian Li,
  • Sheng Yu,
  • Beihua Bao,
  • Yudan Cao,
  • Yuping Tang,
  • Li Zhang,
  • Weifeng Yao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/13880209.2020.1755318
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 58, no. 1
pp. 367 – 373

Abstract

Read online

Context As a toxic traditional Chinese medicine for edoema, Euphorbia kansui S.L. Liou ex S.B. Ho (Euphorbiaceae) (EK) stir-fried with vinegar for detoxification was associated with alterations of gut microbiota. However, the evidence of correlation between short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and toxicity of EK has not been confirmed. Objective In order to study the biological basis of detoxification of EK stir-fried with vinegar (VEK), a rapid, sensitive and validated GC-MS method was developed to determine SCFAs in normal rat faeces after given EK and VEK. Materials and methods Sprague Dawley rats were orally administered 0.5% CMC-Na (control group), EK (EK-treated group) and VEK powder (VEK-treated group) at 680 mg/kg for six consecutive days (eight rats each group). Fresh faeces samples were promptly collected, derivatized and then analyzed by GC-MS. Results The ranges of LOD and LOQ were within 0.13–1.79 and 0.45–5.95 μg/mL, respectively. The RSD values of intra-day and inter-day precisions were less than 15%. Four SCFAs were generally stable under four storage conditions. The extraction recoveries were ranged from 53.5% to 97.3% with RSD values lower than 15%. The concentrations of four SCFAs in EK and VEK were decreased significantly compared with those not administered (EK-treated, p < 0.01; VEK-treated, p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). After being stir-fried with vinegar, the concentrations were all increased (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). Discussion and conclusions The negative correlation between SCFAs and toxicity of EK may provide evidence for biological mechanism and toxic Chinese medicine.

Keywords