Metabolomic Profiling of the Synergistic Effects of Ginsenoside Rg1 in Combination with Neural Stem Cell Transplantation in Ischemic Stroke Rats

As the greatest medical and socioeconomic problem in developing countries, stroke is the second or third leading cause of death in China and worldwide. In adult organisms suffering from stroke, transplanted stem cells have the ability to repair damaged tissues by regenerating autologous cells, while ginsenoside Rg1 could promote proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. Although obvious antistroke effects of ginsenoside Rg1 and transplanted stem cells have been verified in publications, the mechanism exploration remains challenging. Our study was carried out to investigate the synergistic effects of ginsenoside Rg1 and neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation on MCAO rats with a 1H NMR-based nontargeted metabolomics method to identify potential biomarkers and protein targets and discover the potential mechanism. NSCs transplantation after MCAO combined with ginsenoside Rg1 administration could significantly improve the cerebral infarct and neurological deficits. The treatment significantly intervened the levels of ten metabolites, and perturbed energy metabolism, amino acids metabolism, and lipids metabolism. And 11 enzymes were identified and verified as the targets of NSCs transplantation and ginsenoside Rg1 administration on MCAO rats. Our findings helped to improve the antistroke mechanism of NSCs transplantation and ginsenoside Rg1 and supply a theory basis for the combined research of stem cells and Chinese medicine in the future.