Urinary metabolomics study of the effects of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi ethanol extract on D-galactose-induced rats

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anti-aging effects and reveal the underlying mechanism of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi ethanol extract (SBG) in D-galactose-induced rats. Fifty rats were randomly divided into five groups: vehicle control group, D-galactose group, and D-galactose combined with 50, 100, 200 mg·kg^-1 SBG. A rat aging model was induced by injecting subcutaneously D-galactose (100 mg·kg^-1) for ten weeks. At the tenth week, the locomotor activity (in open-field test) and the learning and memory abilities (in Morris water maze test) were examined respectively. The urine was collected using metabolic cages and analyzed by high-resolution ¹H NMR spectroscopy combined with multivariate statistical analyses. The SBG at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg·kg^-1 treatments groups could significantly ameliorate aging process in rats' cognitive performance. The 50, 100, 200 mg·kg^-1 SBG regulated citrate, pyruvate, lactate, trimethylamine (TMA), pantothenate, β-hydroxybutyrate in urine favorably toward the control group. These biochemical changes are related to the disturbance in energy metabolism, glycometabolism and microbiome metabolism, which is helpful to further understanding the D-galactose induced aging rats and the therapeutic mechanism of SBG.