Screening of the Active Component Promoting Leydig Cell Proliferation from Lepidium meyenii Using HPLC-ESI-MS/MS Coupled with Multivariate Statistical Analysis

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 24; no. 11; p. 2101
• Main Authors: Gao, Xiao-Chen, Lv, Jing-Wei, Li, Chun-Nan, Zhang, Nan-Xi, Tian, Lin-Lin, Han, Xi-Ying, Zhang, Hui, Sun, Jia-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; Animals; Binding sites; Biological activity; Biosynthesis; Cell Line; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Chemical composition; Cholesterol; Chromatography; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Food production; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Herbal medicine; High performance liquid chromatography; high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry; Homeostasis; Hydrogen Bonding; Hydrogen bonds; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Ions; Least-Squares Analysis; Lepidium - chemistry; Lepidium meyenii; Leydig cells; Leydig Cells - cytology; Leydig Cells - drug effects; Ligands; Liquid chromatography; Male; Mass spectrometry; Mice; Mitochondria; Molecular docking; Molecular Docking Simulation; Multivariate Analysis; Multivariate statistical analysis; partial least squares; Phytochemicals - analysis; Phytochemicals - chemistry; Phytochemicals - pharmacology; Reproduction; Reproductive health; Scientific imaging; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Statistical analysis; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Testosterone; Testosterone - metabolism; ultrafiltration affinity; Lepidium meyenii; high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry; molecular docking; ultrafiltration affinity; partial least squares
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules24112101

is now widely consumed as a functional food and medicinal product, which is known as an enhancer of reproductive health. However, the specific chemical composition and mechanism of action for improving sexual function are unclear. The present study aims at screening and determining the potential compounds, which promote mouse leydig cells (TM3) proliferation. The partial least squares analysis (PLS) was employed to reveal the correlation between common peaks of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint of and the proliferation activity of TM3. The results suggested that three compounds had good activities on the proliferation of TM3 and promoting testosterone secretion, there were -benzyl-hexadecanamide, -benzyl-(9z,12z)-octadecadienamide and -benzyl-(9z,12z,15z)-octadecatrienamide which might be the potential bioactive markers related to the enhancing sexual ability functions of . The first step in testosterone synthesis is the transport of cholesterol into the mitochondria, and the homeostasis of mitochondrial function is related to cyclophilin D (CypD). In order to expound how bioactive ingredients lead to promoting testosterone secretion, a molecular docking simulation was used for further illustration in the active sites and binding degree of the ligands on CypD. The results indicated there was a positive correlation between the binding energy absolute value and testosterone secretion activity. In addition, in this study it also provided the reference for a simple, quick method to screen the promoting leydig cell proliferation active components in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).