• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.109-113
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• 2017

Single analytical procedure including extraction, liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometric analysis was evaluated for the simultaneous measurement of lysophospholipids (LPLs). LPLs, particularly, lysophosphatidic acids (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are lipid messengers ubiquitously found in various biological matrix. The molecular species mediate important physiological roles in association with many diseases (e.g. cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative disease), which emphasize the significance of the simple and reliable analytical method for biomarker discovery and molecular mechanistic understanding. Thus, we developed analytical method mainly focusing on, but not limited by those lipid species S1P and LPA using reverse phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (RPLC-ESI-MS-MS). Extraction method was modified based on Folch method with optimally minimal level of ionization additive (ammonium formate 10 mM and formic acid). Reverse-phase liquid-chromatography was applied for chromatographical separation in combination with negative ionization mode electrospray-coupled Orbitrap mass spectrometry. The method validation was performed on human blood plasma in a non-targeted lipid profiling manner with full-scan MS mode and data-dependent MS/MS. The proposed method presented good inter-assay precision for primary targets, S1P and LPA. Subsequent analysis of other types of LPLs identified a broad range of lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) and lysophosphatidyl-ethanolamines (LPEs).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.114-122
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• 2023

A family of signal transduction pathways known as wingless type (Wnt) signaling pathways is essential to developmental processes like cell division and proliferation. Mutation in Wnt signaling results in a variety of diseases, including cancers of the breast, colon, and skin, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative disease; thus, the Wnt signaling pathways have been attractive targets for disease treatment. However, the complicatedness and large involveness of the pathway often hampers pinpointing the specific targets of the metabolic process. In our current study, we investigated the differential metabolic regulation by the overexpression of the Wnt signaling pathway in a timely-resolved manner by applying high-throughput and un-targeted metabolite profiling. We have detected and annotated 321 metabolite peaks from a total of 36 human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells using GC-TOF MS and LC-Orbitrap MS. The un-targeted metabolomic analysis identified the radical reprogramming of a range of central carbon/nitrogen metabolism pathways, including glycolysis, TCA cycle, and glutaminolysis, and fatty acid pathways. The investigation, combined with targeted mRNA profiles, elucidated an explicit understanding of activated fatty acid metabolism (β-oxidation and biosynthesis). The findings proposed detailed mechanistic biochemical dynamics in response to Wnt-driven metabolic changes, which may help design precise therapeutic targets for Wnt-related diseases.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.50-53
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• 2012

After success of sildenafil for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, a large number of its analogues have been approved from FDA. Recently, the illegal dietary supplements which include sildenafil, vardenafil, tadalafil, or analogues of these drugs as ingredient have been widely distributed. Therefore, the determination of the residue of synthetic phosphodiesterase- 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors in dietary supplements is highly required due to indiscriminate and unintentional overdose caused nausea, chest pains, fainting and irregular heartbeat. In this paper, we report a rapid and sensitive analytical method for the simultaneous determination of nine phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. The present method was found to be accurate and reproducible with 40 ${\mu}g$/g of the limit of quantification for the nine PDE-5 inhibitors. The developed method can be successfully applied to the analysis of the seven illegal dietary supplements.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.54-64
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• 2023

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer (P. ginseng) is a traditional natural/herbal medicine. The amelioration on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity rely mainly on its main active ingredients that are referred to as ginsenosides. However, the current literature on gut microbiota, gut microbiota-host co-metabolites, and systems pharmacology has no studies investigating the effects of ginsenoside on IBD. Methods: The present study was aimed to investigate the role of ginsenosides and the possible underlying mechanisms in the treatment of IBD in an acetic acid-induced rat model by integrating metagenomics, metabolomics, and complex biological networks analysis. In the study ten ginsenosides in the ginsenoside fraction (GS) were identified using Q-Orbitrap LC-MS. Results: The results demonstrated the improvement effect of GS on IBD and the regulation effect of ginsenosides on gut microbiota and its co-metabolites. It was revealed that 7 endogenous metabolites, including acetic acid, butyric acid, citric acid, tryptophan, histidine, alanine, and glutathione, could be utilized as significant biomarkers of GS in the treatment of IBD. Furthermore, the biological network studies revealed EGFR, STAT3, and AKT1, which belong mainly to the glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathways, as the potential targets for GS for intervening in IBD. Conclusion: These findings indicated that the combination of genomics, metabolomics, and biological network analysis could assist in elucidating the possible mechanism underlying the role of ginsenosides in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease and thereby reveal the pathological process of ginsenosides in IBD treatment through the regulation of the disordered host-flora co-metabolism pathway.