Abstract Jiangshui is a traditional fermented food in Northwest China with high nutritional value and special pharmacological effects. To study the microbial community structure and differences in the main metabolic pathways and metabolites in naturally fermented Jiangshui, the microbial diversity and nontargeted metabolomics analyses were performed on 18 samples of Jiangshui from three different production areas, namely, Tianshui, Gansu, Guyuan, Ningxia, and Ankang, Shaanxi. First, the microbial diversity was analyzed using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Lactobacillus was the dominant bacterial genus in the three regions, and the relative abundance of the samples in each region ranged from 72.69% to 99.95%. The dominant fungal genus was Dipodascus, with a relative abundance > 40%. Second, untargeted metabolomics was used to analyze the differences among metabolites in Jiangshui samples. Significant differences were found in 761 different metabolites detected in Jiangshui from the three different regions. Based on ESI+, 78 significantly different metabolites were screened using variable importance projection (VIP) value > 1, fold change (FC) < 1, and P-value < 0.05. Finally, based on joint analysis, the microbiome and metabolite groups of Jiangshui samples from the three different regions were evenly and closely clustered, and the microorganisms and metabolites were highly correlated. The results provide theoretical basis and reference for Jiangshui in other regions.

Abstract Purpose: To investigate whether oxymatrine (OMT) prevents hepatic fibrosis in rats by regulating liver transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) level. Methods: Hepatic fibrosis was induced in rats by thioacetamide (TAA). Blood was collected at the end of week 12 to determine the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and glutathione (GSH). Changes in liver tissue were observed after hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Results: Fibrosis was confirmed by Masson’s collagen staining. Liver TGF-β1 level was determined by ELISA. OMT significantly reduced serum ALT and AST but increased GSH levels in rats with hepatic fibrosis. Moreover, it significantly improved liver histology in rats with TAA-induced hepatic fibrosis. It significantly decreased liver TGF-β1 level compared to that in the untreated group. It also significantly reduced collagen deposition in rats. Conclusion: Oxymatrine is effective in protecting rats from thioacetamide-induced hepatic fibrosis by regulating TGF-β1 expression.