GC-MS-Based Metabolomic Profiling of Moxibustion for Obesity Treatment

Obesity is a health condition characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the body, which adversely affects life expectancy and leads to various health issues. Conventional medical interventions involve pharmacological treatments and invasive procedures, which have risks and side effects. Recent studies have investigated the efficacy of moxibustion with other therapies for obesity management.

This study aimed to investigate the metabolic effects of moxibustion on obesity using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomic approach.

Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups: Normal (standard diet), Control (obesity-induced without treatment), CV12 (obesity-induced with moxibustion at CV12 acupoint), and ST36 (obesity-induced with moxibustion at ST36 acupoint). The remaining two standard diet groups were presented as reference data in the supplementary materials. Following eight weeks of high-fat diet induction, moxibustion treatment was applied three times per week for an additional eight weeks, totaling 24 sessions in the CV12 and ST36 groups. Fecal metabolomic profiling was performed using GC-MS, and pathway enrichment analysis was conducted to identify metabolic alterations.

Moxibustion at CV12 resulted in significant improvements in body weight and fat accumulation, whereas ST36 primarily contributed to metabolic modulation, reflecting distinct physiological impacts of each acupoint. Metabolomic analysis revealed distinct metabolic alterations, with the CV12 and ST36 groups exhibiting increased levels of ribose and xylitol, whereas the Control group showed elevated levels of 3-hydroxybutyrate and hypoxanthine. Pathway enrichment analysis reveals acupoint-specific metabolic modulations, with CV12 primarily influencing lipid and carbohydrate metabolism (via pentose phosphate and butanoate pathways), while ST36 affected amino acid metabolism (via arginine, proline, and histidine pathways).

These findings suggest that moxibustion exerts acupoint-dependent metabolic effects, with CV12 acupoint targeting lipid metabolism and ST36 acupoints modulating amino acid pathways. The results highlight the potential of moxibustion as a non-invasive intervention for obesity management, warranting further clinical validation.

gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, metabolomics, moxibustion, obesity, metabolic pathway.