{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T03:17:25Z","timestamp":1790824645214,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786924800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010870","name":"Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology, Science and Technology Benefitting People Project","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["23-2-8-cspz-7-nsh"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23-2-8-cspz-7-nsh"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010870","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: This study aimed to investigate the effects of E. stephanianum-derived polyphenols on preventing the progression of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice and its associated metabolic alterations. Methods: The E. stephanianum plant was extracted, fractionated, and screened in vitro for anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant potential. Fraction 5 (identified as ellagic acid by nuclear magnetic resonance) exhibited the most potent activity and was selected for in vivo study. In the in vivo study, male DBA\/1JGpt mice were randomized into five groups: control (CON), CIA (Model), low-dose extract (ES-L), high-dose extract (ES-H), and ellagic acid group. ES-L, ES-H, and ellagic acid were administered by daily oral gavage at 375, 750, and 250 mg\/kg body weight, respectively, for 8 weeks. Arthritis severity was evaluated based on paw thickness, clinical score, ankle joint histopathology, and serum proinflammatory cytokine levels. To reveal the associated metabolic alterations, serum metabolites were characterized by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Results: Both the whole extract and ellagic acid revealed pronounced anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. In vivo treatment with ES-L, ES-H, or ellagic acid similarly and significantly ameliorated CIA severity, showing smaller paw swelling, reduced clinical arthritis scores, milder joint histopathological injury, and lower serum tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 and interleukin-6 concentrations than the model group. Untargeted metabolomics identified 20 differential metabolites, mainly including triacylglycerols (containing n-3 fatty acids), pro-inflammatory phospholipids, and spermic acid 1. Moreover, the treatments significantly altered amino acid and purine metabolism. Conclusions:E. stephanianum derived polyphenols, like ellagic acid, significantly prevented the progress of CIA in mice. These effects were associated with the alteration of metabolic profiles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18162683","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T13:42:17Z","timestamp":1786974137000},"page":"2683","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Erodium stephanianum-Derived Polyphenols Prevented the Progression of Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Mice and Its Associated Metabolic Alterations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Aohua","family":"Kong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266075, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266075, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zongzhe","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qunqun","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266075, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5290-3306","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ke","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2606-0792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ronggui","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266075, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2023","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(16)30173-8","article-title":"Rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"388","author":"Smolen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"GBD 2021 Rheumatoid Arthritis Collaborators (2023). 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