The Chinese herbal prescription Kang-Gong-Yan alleviates cervicitis by modulating metabolites and gut microbiota.

Context: cervicitis is a common gynecological inflammatory disease. the chinese herbal prescription Kang-Gong-Yan (KGY) is clinically effective against cervicitis; however, the chemical constituents and therapeutic mechanism of KGY remain elusive. Objective: to analyze the chemical constituents of KGY and explore the potential mechanism of KGY in treating cervicitis. Materials and methods: UHPLC-Q-exactive Plus Orbitrap MS was used to identify the active compounds of KGY; Sprague-Dawley (SD) female rats were randomly divided into the control, model, and KGY groups. Phenol mucilage (25%) was slowly injected into the vagina and cervix of the rats to establish the cervicitis model. then, rats in the KGY groups (low dose: 1 g/kg/d; medium dose: 5 g/kg/d; high dose: 10 g/kg/d) were continuously gavaged KGY for one week. he staining was used to observe the cervical tissues of rats; elisa was used to detect inflammatory factors in plasma; non-targeted metabolomics was used to analyze metabolites; 16s rRNA sequencing was used to analyze intestinal microorganisms. Results: KGY exerted anti-cervicitis effects and decreased the levels of IL-6, IL-1β, AND TNF-α. the mechanism of KGY in treating cervicitis is mainly associated with betaine, amino acid, pyrimidine, and phospholipid metabolism by regulating fifteen metabolites. Moreover, KGY reversed cervicitis-induced gut dysbiosis by mediating five bacteria. Discussion and conclusions: the chinese herbal prescription KGY may alleviate cervicitis by modulating metabolites and gut microbiota disorders. these findings provide a scientific basis for the clinical application of KGY and a new strategy for treating cervicitis in chinese medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]