Serum lipidomics analysis of ovariectomized rats under Curcuma comosa treatment.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Curcuma comosa Roxb. (C. comosa) or Wan Chak Motluk, Zingiberaceae family, has been used in Thai traditional medicine for the treatment of gynecological problems and inflammation.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of C. comosa by determining the changes in the lipid profiles in the ovariectomized rats, as a model of estrogen-deficiency-induced hyperlipidemia, after treatment with different components of C. comosa using an untargeted lipidomics approach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lipids were extracted from the serum of adult female rats subjected to a sham operation (SHAM; control), ovariectomy (OVX), or OVX with 12-week daily doses of estrogen (17β-estradiol; E2), (3R)-1,7-diphenyl-(4E,6E)-4,6-heptadien-3-ol (DPHD; a phytoestrogen from C. comosa), powdered C. comosa rhizomes or its crude ethanol extract. They were then analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, characterized, and subjected to the orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis statistical model to identify tentative biomarkers.

RESULTS: Levels of five classes of lipids (ceramide, ceramide-1-phosphate, sphingomyelin, 1-O-alkenyl-lysophosphatidylethanolamine and lysophosphatidylethanolamine) were elevated in the OVX rats compared to those in the SHAM rats, while the monoacylglycerols and triacylglycerols were decreased. The E2 treatment only reversed the levels of ceramides, whereas treatments with DPHD, C. comosa extract or powder returned the levels of all upregulated lipids back to those in the SHAM control rats.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the potential beneficial effects of C. comosa on preventing the increased ceramide levels in OVX rats, a possible cause of metabolic disturbance under estrogen deficiency. Overall, the results demonstrated the power of untargeted lipidomics in discovering disease-relevant biomarkers, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of treatment by C. comosa components (DPHD, extract or powder) as utilized in Thai traditional medicine, and also providing scientific support for its folklore use.