Untargeted metabolomics of Artemisia selengensis Turcz leaves and its mechanism of action in improving cholesterol metabolism in high-fat diet-fed rats.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Hyperlipidemia is a lipid metabolic disease and statins are mainly used to treat hyperlipidemia in the clinics. However, resistance to statin therapy is a limitation. Artemisia selengensis Turcz (AST) is a vegetable that has had poorly studied effects on hyperlipidemia. MATERIALS/METHODS: We prepare the AST as a source of various health-promoting nutrients. First, using the root, stem, and leaves of AST were separated and demonstrated its effect on lipid-lowering indices in vitro. Next, we studied the effect of AST leaf in vivo. AST leaf (100 mg/kg BW/d) was used to treat 4-week-old high-fat diet induced male Wistar rats (n = 12) for 21 days. RESULTS: We have observed that anti-hyperlipidemia index were significantly improved by AST leaf in vitro experiment. Moreover, it is significantly ameliorated the serum lipid profile and reduced total cholesterol after 21 days of treatment. mRNA expression of the metabolism-related genes LDLR, CYP7A1, HMGCR, SREBP2, and ABCA1 was also significantly increased. Moreover, we also estimated the feces bile acid level, which increased significantly following treatment with AST in the leaves. Furthermore, phenol and flavonoid levels were significantly greater in the AST leaves (ASTL) than in the roots and stems, as revealed by the untargeted metabolomics analysis. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that the phenols and flavonoids in ASTL may have contributed to their ability to effectively facilitate hyperlipidemia through the liver-intestinal axis in vivo.