Objective To investigate the mechanism of Jingangwan in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis based on serum metabolomics by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Methods The rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis was replicated by bilateral ovariectomy, and SD female rats were randomly divided into blank group (Blank), sham operation group (Sham), model group (OVX), Jingangwan group (JGW, 3.6 g/kg) and estradiol valerate group (E2, 9 mg/kg), 6 rats in each group; and the drugs were given by intragastric administration once a day. After 12 weeks of administration, the right femurs of the rats were taken for hematoxylin-eosin staining (H&E) and bone mineral density (BMD) determination, The Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISE) method was used to detect bone metabolism indicators alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OCN), serum tartrate resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAP5b), and biochemical methods to detect total cholesterol (TC), total triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) content. After pre-treatment, serum samples were metabolically examined, principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis were combined to identify and screen serum metabolites, and related metabolic pathways were enriched through MetaboAnalyst. Results H&E staining results showed that the morphology of bone trabecular bone in JGW group was significantly improved compared with that in model group. Compared with Sham group, BMD and HDL-C levels in OVX group were decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01), while ALP, OCN, TRAP5b, TC, TG and LDL-C levels were increased (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Compared with OVX group, the levels of BMD and HDL-C in JGW group were increased (P<0.05 or P<0.01), while the levels of ALP, OCN, TRAP5b, TC, TG and LDL-C were decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01); Thirteen biomarkers were determined by GC-MS analysis, and five metabolic pathways were obtained, including arachidonic acid metabolism, inositol phosphate metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, galactose metabolism and phosphatidylinositol signal transduction system. Conclusion The effect of Jingangwan on PMOP may be related to regulating lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism and glucose metabolism. |