Effects Of Astragalus Variabilis On Expressed Proteins, Metabolites And Microflora Structure In Rats

Locoweed is the most serious poisonous weed and harm to the development of animal husbandry, which widely distributed in the natural grassland of western China. Livestocks get toxicated after ingesting it in long time, which bring huge economic losses to the herdsmen and restrict the sustainable development of animal husbandry in western China. Astragalus variabilis is one serious poisonous weed of locoweed and the main toxic ingredient is swainsonine(SW). Researches show that SW can cause vacuoles degeneration of cell by the accumulation of oligosaccharides. However, by now, it is uncertain to what effects caused in metabolic performance in animals. To explore the effects of SW on expressed proteins in liver, metabolites in blood and microflora structure in faeces, this research chose SD rats as experiment animal, used the powder of Astragalus variabilis as the toxin to establish the chronic SW poisoning model of SD rats, and conducted experiments as below:1. Establishing the chronic SW poisoning model of SD rats. 60 female SD rats were randomly distributed to 3 groups of 20 animals as Control Group, Experiment GroupⅠ and Experiment Group Ⅱ. Rats in Control Group fed normal full feeding, while rats in Experiment GroupⅠand Experiment Group Ⅱfed feedings containing 10%(0.0132‰ SW)and 30%(0.0396‰ SW)powder of Astragalus Variabilis, respectively. On the 120 th day, rats in Experiment Group Ⅱ showed the typical clinical signs of SW poisoning, while those in Experiment GroupⅠ showed the mild signs.2. Effects of Astragalus variabilis on protein expression of liver in SD Rats. On the 120 th day, the rats were anesthetized via intraperitoneal injections of chloral hydrate and the liver samples were collected to detect the expressed proteins. Results show that, 4280 proteins were detected and identified in liver of SD Rats, and 574 proteins changed significantly, in which 263 proteins were up-regulated and 311 proteins down-regulated. The proteins of Dipeptidyl peptidase-2, Retinoid-inducible serine, carboxypeptidase, Glucosamine(N-acetyl)-6-sulfatase, Dipeptidyl peptidas-1, Acid ceramidase, Lysosome-associated membrane glycoprotein-2, Histone H2 B, Calcium-regulated heat stable protein-1, Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, Aldose reductase-related protein 1, Heat shock cognate 71 k Da protein could serve as the potential proteins biomarkers of poisoning disease of Astragalus variabilis in animals.3. Effects of Astragalus variabilis on metabolites of plasma in SD Rats. After dosing period, the rats were anesthetized via intraperitoneal injections of chloral hydrate and the blood samples were collected to detect blood metabolites. Results show that, Astragalus variabilis can cause obvious changes of plasma metabolites in rats. 47 kinds of alterd metabolites were detected in positive and negative ion mode and the 9 kinds of metabolites of Glycocholic acid, Cholic acid, Deoxycytidine, L-Glutamate, L-Ascorbic acid, Myristic acid, cis-9-Palmitoleic acid, alpha-Linolenic acid and Eicosapentaenoic acid were filtered as the blood biomakers of poisoning disease of Astragalus variabilis in animals.4. Effects of Astragalus variabilis on microflora structure of faeces in SD Rats. On the 30 th and 120 th day, the faeces samples of rats were collected to detect the microflora structure. Results show that, Astragalus variabilis can cause changes of the microflora structures in faeces. Contents of pathogenic bacteria increased and beneficial bacteria decreased in Prevotella, Bacteroides, S24-7, Ruminococcacea and Clostridiales in faeces of Astragalus variabilis poisoning animals.The above experiments results show that Astragalus variabilis can cause the changes of metabolites in liver, blood and faeces by changing the contents of glycoprotein, lipids, amino acids and other substances in poisoning animals.