{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T02:54:11Z","timestamp":1785293651483,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]],"date-time":"2021-07-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1627344000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012659","name":"Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Hepatic fibrosis (HF) is a typical consequence in the development of multiple chronic liver diseases, which is intimately related to the composition and metabolic status of gut microbiota. A myriad of evidence has indicated that traditional Chinese medicine can treat HF by regulating gut microbiota. Yinchen Wuling powder (YCWLP) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine prescription, which has been used to relieve liver diseases for thousands of years. YCWLP has demonstrated protective function on HF, but its effect on the alterations of gut microbiota is still unclear, and its explicit therapeutic mechanism also needs to be further elucidated. In this study, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and fecal metabolomics analysis were combined to investigate the influence of YCWLP on gut microbiota in HF rats and the interactions between gut microbiota and host metabolism. The results showed that YCWLP treatment significantly improved the disorder of multiple organ indices, HF-related cytokines and plasma LPS induced by HF. Masson\u2019s trichrome stainings also showed that YCWLP treatment could significantly alleviate the severity of HF in rats. Additionally, YCWLP could reverse the significant changes in the abundance of certain genera closely related to HF phenotype, including <jats:italic>Barnesiella<\/jats:italic> [<jats:italic>Ruminococcus<\/jats:italic>] and <jats:italic>Christensenella<\/jats:italic>. Meanwhile, YCWLP significantly increased the abundance of <jats:italic>Bifidobacterium<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Coprococcus<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Anaerostipes<\/jats:italic>, which are closely related to butyrate production. Metabolomics and Spearman\u2019s correlation analysis showed that YCWLP could regulate the disorder of arginine biosynthesis, sphingolipid metabolism and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism in HF rats, and these regulations were intimately related to <jats:italic>Barnesiella<\/jats:italic>, [<jats:italic>Ruminococcus<\/jats:italic>]<jats:italic>, Christensenella, Coprococcus<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Anaerostipes<\/jats:italic>. By explaining the biological significance of the above results, we concluded that YCWLP might ameliorate HF by regulating the imbalance of gut microbiota, increasing the abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria to reduce ammonia production, promote ammonia degradation, and regulate pro-inflammatory cytokines and immune function.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2021.713197","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]],"date-time":"2021-07-27T07:45:31Z","timestamp":1627371931000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Comprehensive Analysis of Fecal Microbiome and Metabolomics in Hepatic Fibrosis Rats Reveal Hepatoprotective Effects of Yinchen Wuling Powder From the Host-Microbial Metabolic Axis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Yumeng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xue","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiaoyu","family":"Qiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tingting","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunjie","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"140","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aca.2017.12.006","article-title":"Metabolomics Study of Early Metabolic Changes in Hepatic HepaRG Cells in Response to Rosemary Diterpenes Exposure","volume":"1037","author":"Acunha","year":"2018","journal-title":"Analytica Chim. 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