ABSTRACT
This study used metabolomics to explore the improvement effect of raw and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma on acute kidney injury (AKI) in rats. All animal experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Shandong Academy of Chinese Medicine (approval No.: SDZYY20200101001). SD rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, raw Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma group (0.9 g·kg-1) and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma group (0.9 g·kg-1), 6 rats in each group. The rats model of acute kidney injury was established by single intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (CP) and treated with raw and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. The pathological changes of renal tissue were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and PAS staining, the contents creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in serum were detected. UPLC-Q-TOF/MS was used to study tissue metabolomics to screen the biomarkers affected by raw and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and analyz the metabolic pathways. The results showed that compared with the model group, raw and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma can significantly improve the pathological changes of renal tissue and decrease the content of Cr, BUN and increase the activity of SOD. In addition, honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma can also significantly reduce the kidney index. In tissue samples, 45 biomarkers were measured in AKI rats. Raw Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma could simultaneously call back 11 differential metabolites, which were involved in the regulation of glycerophospholipid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, and glutathione metabolism. In addition, raw Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma is also involved in the regulation of glycine, serine and threonine metabolism and pyrimidine metabolism. In summary, raw and honey-processed Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma can participate in the regulation of different metabolic pathways, and play an improvement role in AKI rats by regulating amino acid, lipid metabolism, energy metabolism and oxidative stress.