Metabonomics of mice intestine in Codonopsis foetens induced apoptosis of intestine cancer cells

Abstract Intestinal cancer is a disease with high morbidity and high mortality in China. Previous studies have shown that Codonopsis foetens can inhibit cellular autophagy and promote the apoptosis of intestine cancer cells. Based on metabolomics method coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology, we aimed to analyze intestinal small molecule metabolites in the intestinal cancer model group and the Codonopsis foetens treated group. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS-DA) were used to identify the pattern of the data. And the metabolic characteristics of the cancer model group were explored based on the metabolic differences between the groups. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that metabolites presented with differences included: Acetamide, Phosphoric acid, Hydrogen sulfite, Pyruvic acid, Cytosine, 2-Hydroxypyridine, Phosphoric acid, Uracil, Gamma-Aminobutyric acid, Glycerol alpha-monochlorohydrin, Thiosulfic acid, L-Valine, Cysteamine, Taurine, Creatine, Homocysteine, Hypoxanthine, Se-Methylselenocysteine, 5-Hydroxymethyluracil, Oxoglutaric acid, LysoPC(20:0), LysoPC(22:4(7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z)), LysoPC(18:2(9Z,12Z)), LysoPC(16:1(9Z)), LysoPE(0:0/16:0), LysoPE(0:0/18:2(9Z,12Z)), LysoPE(18:0/0:0), LysoPE(20:1(11Z)/0:0), etc. Combined with metabolic pathway analysis, pathways presented with differences included: Citrate cycle (TCA cycle), ABC transporters, 2-Oxocarboxylic acid metabolism, Taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, Butanoate metabolism), Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, Biosynthesis of amino acids, Protein digestion and absorption, Aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, C5-Branched dibasic acid metabolism, GABAergic synapse, Proximal tubule bicarbonate reclamation, Mineral absorption, Phenylalanine metabolism. The results showed that the proliferation of intestinal cancer cells caused cell metabolism disorders, manifesting as changes in metabolic pathways and resulting in changes in metabolites.