Mobile Phone Addiction (MPA) is a novel behavioral addiction resulting in circadian rhythm disorders that severely affect mental and physical health. The purpose of this study is to detect rhythmic salivary metabolites in MPA with sleep disorder (MPASD) subjects and investigate the effects of acupuncture.
Six MPASD patients and six healthy controls among the volunteers were enrolled by MPA Tendency Scale (MPATS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), then the salivary samples of MPASD and healthy controls were collected every 4-h for three consecutive days. Acupuncture was administered for 7 days to MPASD subjects, then saliva samples were collected again. Salivary metabolomes were analyzed with the method of LC-MS.
According to our investigation, 70 (57.85%) MPA patients and 56 (46.28%) MPASD patients were identified among 121 volunteers. The symptoms of the 6 MPASD subjects were significantly alleviated after acupuncture intervention. The number of rhythmic saliva metabolites dropped sharply in MPASD subjects and restored after acupuncture. Representative rhythmic saliva metabolites including melatonin, 2′-deoxyuridine, thymidine, thymidine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate lost rhythm and restored after acupuncture, which may attribute to promising MPASD treatment and diagnosis biomarkers. The rhythmic saliva metabolites of healthy controls were mainly enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, whereas polyketide sugar unit biosynthesis was mainly enriched in MPASD patients.
This study revealed circadian rhythm characteristics of salivary metabolites in MPASD and that acupuncture could ameliorate MPASD by restoring part of the dysrhythmia salivary metabolites.