The protection of chronic cerebral ischemia by Hua-Feng-Dan involves the modulation of hippocampal transcriptome and gut dysbiosis.

Overview

Authors: Bo Liu¹, Bo Huang¹, Yunyan Xu¹, Jie Liu¹

ORCID iDs: Bo Liu, Bo Huang, Jie Liu

Key Lab for Basic Pharmacology and Joint International Laboratory of Ethnomedicine of Ministry of Education, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563003 China

Institutions: Zunyi Medical University (China)

Journal: Metabolic brain disease, volume 41, issue 1, article 253

Dates: received 6 August 2026; accepted 27 October 2026; published online 9 November 2026; in print 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1 · PMID 43000579 · PMCID PMC13745425 · OpenAlex W7225561824

Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)

Categories: genetics / omics (modality), histology / microscopy (modality), rat (organism), stroke (population)

Methods: Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Preprocessing

Keywords: Hua-Feng-Dan, Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, Behavioral deficit, Histopathology, RNA-seq analysis, Ingenuity pathway analysis, Gut microbiota

MeSH: Brain Ischemia*, Dysbiosis*, Gastrointestinal Microbiome*, Hippocampus*, Neuroprotective Agents*, Transcriptome*, Animals, Chronic Disease, Male, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley (* major topic)

Topic: Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments (Neurology, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex

Funding: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 82560832); Guizhou Science and Technology Department (ZK[2022-596])

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 46 references in the paper

Abstract

The protective effects of Hua-Feng-Dan recipes against chronic cerebral hypoperfusion-induced ischemia were examined; RNA-seq and 16 S-rRNA-seq were used to explore the molecular mechanisms. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent unilateral common carotid artery ligation surgery to establish chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) models. Then, the CCH rats were treated with various Hua-Feng-Dan recipes in diet for 20 days. Finally, behavioral tests were performed, followed by histopathology. Hippocampal RNA was isolated for RNA-seq and RT-qPCR analyses; Colon bacterial DNA was isolated for 16 S rRNA-seq and bioinformatics. The CCH rats exhibited cognition deficits evidenced by Behavioral tests. The neurons in the hippocampus CA1 area were damaged. Hua-Feng-Dan recipes as Reduced_H (0.5 g/kg), Original, and Nonferment improved behavioral deficits and morphological changes, while Reduced_L (0.25 g/kg) was ineffective. RNA-seq revealed distinct gene expression pattern among groups. Ingenuity pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed Hua-Feng-Dan recipes ameliorated Canonical pathways involved in cytosolic Ca2+ overload, disruption of IGF homeostasis and Neutrophil degranulation; attenuated CCH-activated Upstream regulators such as IL1B, IL6, TNF, IGF1, and glucose metabolism. CCH-decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio were recovered by Hua-Feng-Dan recipes. CCH-increased Prevotellaceae and decreased Lachnospiraceae were attenuated; CCH-increased ASV1 and decreased ASV39 were brought to normal after Hua-Feng-Dan treatments. Similar to the efficacy against CCH, Reduced_L was ineffective in transcriptome and gut microbiota analysis. Hua-Feng-Dan recipes (Reduced_H, Original, and Nonferment) are effective against CCH-induced chronic cerebral ischemia, while Reduced_L was ineffective. The mechanisms of the protection are related to transcriptome regulation in the hippocampus, and modulation of CCH-disrupted gut dysbiosis.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

Datasets cited

zenodo:20719036, at Zenodo; found in “Data availability”

Data availability

The RNA-seq generated in the study are publicly available. The raw data can be found DOI:10.5281/zenodo.20719036.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 12 November 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 7 keywords, 11 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 46 references.

Cite

This paper

Liu, B., Huang, B., Xu, Y., & Liu, J. (2026). The protection of chronic cerebral ischemia by Hua-Feng-Dan involves the modulation of hippocampal transcriptome and gut dysbiosis. Metabolic brain disease, 41(1), 253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1

BibTeX

@article{liu2026protection, author = {Liu, Bo and Huang, Bo and Xu, Yunyan and Liu, Jie}, title = {{The protection of chronic cerebral ischemia by Hua-Feng-Dan involves the modulation of hippocampal transcriptome and gut dysbiosis}}, journal = {Metabolic brain disease}, year = {2026}, month = nov, volume = {41}, number = {1}, pages = {253}, publisher = {Springer Science+Business Media}, issn = {0885-7490}, doi = {10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1}, pmid = {43000579}, pmcid = {PMC13745425} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Liu, Bo AU - Huang, Bo AU - Xu, Yunyan AU - Liu, Jie TI - The protection of chronic cerebral ischemia by Hua-Feng-Dan involves the modulation of hippocampal transcriptome and gut dysbiosis T2 - Metabolic brain disease J2 - Metab Brain Dis PY - 2026 DA - 2026/11/09 VL - 41 IS - 1 SP - 253 SN - 0885-7490 PB - Springer Science+Business Media DO - 10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-026-02017-1 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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