Sea dragon metabolome and lipidome unveil bioactive functional food candidates with sepsis therapeutic activities

Sea dragons (Syngnathus) are valuable marine resources with notable interspecific phenotypic similarities and variations in composition and efficacy. This study employed multi-omics technologies to comprehensively analyze and structurally identify the molecular components of six species of Syngnathus, effectively screening interspecific differential markers. Untargeted metabolomics revealed a total of 18 classes and 2264 metabolites, and lipids were found to be the principal differential metabolites. Lipidomics were utilized for in-depth lipid detection, expanding the original 412 lipids detected through metabolomics to 2078 lipids, among which 47 differential metabolites and 138 differential lipids were selected from multi-omics results. The integration of network pharmacology and molecular docking elucidated the multifactorial mechanisms by which Syngnathus exerts anti-sepsis effects, including modulation of inflammatory responses, and regulation of apoptosis, while identifying key targets such as IL6, STAT3, and MAPK14. This study suggests that they may have potential as natural sources for the development of anti-sepsis foods. Further studies on their bioavailability and in vitro and in vivo efficacy are required in the future.