Abstract
Shenling Baizhu Powder (SLBZP) is a prominent formulation widely used in the treatment of pulmonary diseases. However, studies examining the mechanisms of SLBZP for treating asthma are limited. This study aimed to clarify the efficacy and possible mechanisms of SLBZP in the context of asthma from the perspective of gut microbiota-metabolism-immune crosstalk. Key parameters including airway hyperresponsiveness, lung pathological features and the expression of inflammatory mediators from Th2 and Th17 cells were employed to validate the anti-inflammatory properties of SLBZP. The anti-asthma mechanism of SLBZP was investigated using metagenomic sequencing, metabolomics, flow cytometry, RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF). SLBZP demonstrated significant capacity to mitigate histopathological alterations associated with ovalbumin-induced asthma and suppress the secretion of inflammatory mediators (IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and IL-17A) in BALF. Metagenomic results demonstrated that the protective effects of SLBZP were primarily associated with Ligilactobacillus, Eubacterium and Clostridium. Additionally, metabolomics results identified that three vital metabolic pathways were substantially regulated by SLBZP in asthmatic mice, especially D-glutamine and -glutamate metabolism. Furthermore, IHC and IF results showed that SLBZP significantly inhibited the expression of GLS1 and GOT1, which inhibited the conversion of L-glutamine to α-ketoglutarate and regulated the imbalance of Th1/Th2 and Treg/Th17. RT-qPCR results showed that SLBZP promoted the expressions of T-bet, IFN-γ, IL-10 and Foxp3 mRNA, and inhibited the expression of GATA3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-17A and RORγt mRNA. The findings from flow cytometry provided additional evidence. Thus, this modulated the imbalance of Th1/Th2 and Treg/Th17 and exerted the immunomodulatory properties of SLBZP. SLBZP exerted protective effects against OVA-induced asthma and modified the structure and functional characteristics of the gut microbiota, and serum metabolite profiles in asthmatic mice. The anti-asthma mechanism of SLBZP may be associated with the modulation of the gut microbiota and Glutamine-GLS1 pathway.
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Data availability
The main data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this manuscript and its Additional files and are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Metagenomic data generated during the current study have been deposited in NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1227753).
Abbreviations
- OVA:
-
Ovalbumin
- SLBZP:
-
Shenling Baizhu Powder
- TCM:
-
Traditional Chinese medicine
- BALF:
-
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
- AHR:
-
Airway hyperresponsiveness
- KEGG:
-
Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
- ROC:
-
Receiver operating characteristic
- AUC:
-
Area under curve
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Funding
Doctoral Scientific Initiate Project of Shunde Women and Children’s Hospital of Guangdong Medical University (Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital of Shunde Foshan) (2023BSQD002); The Project of Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangdong Province (20241090); Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project (2023A04J0550); Medical Research Project of Foshan Municipal Health Bureau (20250403).
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Yuning Zeng contributed to the design, methodology, validation and manuscript drafting. Hui Qi and Weijian Guo analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. Xueyi Tan collected the data and prepared the figures and tables. Bo Huang and Ruihui Hu conducted the statistical analysis. Xueren Ouyang supervised the study and contributed to the design and review of a manuscript. All authors approved the submitted version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
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The study is reported in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines. Animal study procedures were followed by the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (No. 20240229024).
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Zeng, Y., Qi, H., Guo, W. et al. Multi-omics insights into Shenling Baizhu Powder’s amelioration of murine asthma through gut microbiota and Glutamine-GLS1 pathway. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38440-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38440-8


