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  3. Exploring the relationship between gut microbiota-metabolite axis and Jiawei Danxuan Koukang's therapeutic effects in male rats with oral submucous fibrosis: A multi-omics analysis

Exploring the relationship between gut microbiota-metabolite axis and Jiawei Danxuan Koukang's therapeutic effects in male rats with oral submucous fibrosis: A multi-omics analysis

  • Arch Oral Biol. 2026 Feb:182:106480. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2025.106480.
Chenwei Wang 1,  Yuzhe Dai 2,  Yao Ye 3,  Qianqi Zeng 3,  Jin Tan 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410208, PR China; Department of Stomatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410007, PR China.
  • 2 Department of Special Stomatological Clinic, Changsha Stomatological Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410006, PR China.
  • 3 Department of Stomatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410007, PR China.
  • 4 Department of Stomatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410007, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 41401479 DOI: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2025.106480
Abstract

Objective: This work aims to explore how Jiawei Danxuan Koukang (JDK) ameliorates Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSF) via regulating the gut microbiota and its metabolites.

Design: We established an OSF rat model via oral mucosal arecoline injection. Rats were randomly divided into five groups: control, model, lycopene-treated, quercetin-treated, and JDK-treated. After intervention, we analyzed: serum metabolites by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry -based untargeted metabolomics; gut microbiota profiling via 16S rDNA sequencing; oral mucosal histopathology and fibrosis using hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome staining; expressions of fibrosis-related proteins (Transforming Growth Factor-β1 (TGF-β1), Collagen Type I Alpha 1 Chain (COL1A1)) by western blot; and cytokines (Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-6, Interleukin-10) in serum, oral and colon tissues via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: In the OSF model group, 120 serum metabolites were upregulated and 39 were down-regulated. When comparing the JDK group with the model group, 83 metabolites were upregulated and 132 were downregulated in the JDK group. Specifically, JDK targeted key metabolites: prostaglandins, leukotrienes, lysophosphatidylcholine, and 4-hydroxyproline. JDK also regulated two critical metabolic pathways: gly-cine-serine-threonine metabolism and tryptophan metabolism. JDK reduces the pro-inflammatory Ruminococcus and restores the butyrate-producing Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group. JDK downregulated Interleukin-1β and Interleukin-6 levels systemically and locally, concurrently increasing Interleukin-10, and reduced the expression of fibrosis-related proteins (TGF-β1, COL1A1) in the oral mucosa.

Conclusions: JDK alleviates OSF by normalizing inflammation and fibrosis-related metabolic pathways, linking gut microbiota remodeling to metabolic homeostasis.

Keywords

Gut microbiota-metabolite axis; Jiawei Danxuan Koukang; Metabolomics; Oral submucous fibrosis.

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