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ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of Zhizi Dahuang decoction （ZZDHT） in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease （ALD） by improving oxidative stress in hepatic neutrophils. MethodsNetwork pharmacology was used to obtain the chemical components of ZZDHT and their corresponding action targets and analyze the potential targets and functional pathways of ZZDHT in the treatment of ALD. The non-target metabolomics technology was used to observe the changes in the metabolites of ZZDHT in mouse serum and liver. The mice were given ZZDHT at a dose twice as much as the middle dose concentration by gavage， and serum and liver samples were collected at six time points after gavage （10 minutes， 30 minutes， 1 hour， 2 hours， 4 hours， and 6 hours） and were then mixed for mass spectrometry （administration group with 18 mice）， while the 18 mice in the control group were given an equal volume of normal saline by gavage. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography was used for rapid isolation and identification of the metabolites of ZZDHT in serum and liver tissue， and the effective constituents of ZZDHT were validated. Male C57BL/6J mice， aged 8 weeks， were randomly and equally divided into control group， model group， and low-， middle-， and high-dose ZZDHT groups， with 10 mice in each group. All mice except those in the control group were used to establish a mouse model of ALD （NIAAA model mice）， and at the same time， the mice in the administration groups were given low-， middle-， and high-dose ZZDHT by gavage， while those in the control group and the model group were given an equal volume of normal saline by gavage. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， and triglyceride （TG） were measured； PCR was used to measure the gene expression levels of related inflammation， oxidative stress， and neutrophil indicators in the liver； ELISA was used to measure the levels of related inflammation and oxidative stress indicators in serum； superoxide dismutase （SOD）， glutathione peroxidase （GSH-Px）， and malondialdehyde （MDA） were measured to observe the level of oxidative stress in the liver； HE staining， myeloperoxidase staining， and oil red staining were used to observe liver injury， neutrophil infiltration， and lipid deposition. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsA total of 53 active components and 227 target genes were obtained for ZZDHT， and there were 8685 target genes of ALD， resulting in 222 common target genes between these two groups of genes. Core pathways included the interleukin-6 signaling pathway and the TNF signaling pathway. The non-targeted metabolic analysis of ZZDHT obtained 225 metabolites in mouse liver and 227 metabolites in serum， among which there were 126 common metabolites. The core pathways of liver metabolites included glycerolipid metabolism and inflammatory mediator regulation of TRP channels， and the core pathways of serum metabolites included the AMPK signaling pathway and oxidative phosphorylation， all of which were associated with oxidative stress- and inflammation-related pathways. Compared with the model group， the low-， middle-， and high-dose ZZDHT groups had significant reductions in the serum levels of ALT， AST， and TG （all P<0.05）， and the middle-dose ZZDHT group had significant reductions in the levels of Ly6g， Ncf1， Ncf2， IL-6， TNF-α， IL-1β， MDA， 4-HNE， Gp91， and P22 in the liver （all P<0.05）， a significant increase in the level of SOD （P<0.05）， a significant reduction in the serum level of 4-HNE （P<0.05）， and a significant increase in the level of GSH-Px （P<0.05）. There were significant improvements in fat deposition and neutrophil infiltration in the liver of mice in the middle-dose ZZDHT group （both P<0.05）. ConclusionZZDHT significantly reduces oxidative stress and inflammatory response in NIAAA model mice.
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ObjectiveTo investigate the changes and potential effects of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in the development and progression of liver injury in a mouse model of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) induced by concanavalin A (ConA). MethodsEight healthy male specific pathogen-free C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into model group and control group, with four mice in each group. The mice in the model group were given tail vein injection of ConA 15 mg/kg, and those in the control group were given an equal volume of normal saline. All mice were sacrificed after 8 hours of modeling, Total RNA in liver tissue was extracted, gene microarray was used to screen out differentially expressed miRNAs, and target prediction and function analysis were performed for upregulated and downregulated miRNAs. The independent samples t-test was used for comparison of differentially expressed miRNAs between two groups. ResultsThe principal component analysis showed that the inter-group difference of the data extracted by gene microarray met the conditions for further analysis. Compared with the control group, the model group had 31 upregulated miRNAs and 18 downregulated miRNAs in mouse liver, which had a regulatory relationship with 959 target genes (601 upregulated genes and 358 downregulated genes). GO analysis showed that in the model group, the target genes of the upregulated miRNAs mainly had the molecular functions such as “DNA binding” (P=1.47×10-6), participated in the biological processes such as “transcription, DNA-templated” (P=2.36×10-7), and were mainly enriched in the cellular components such as “neuronal cell body” (P=5.99×10-6), while the target genes of the downregulated miRNAs had the molecular functions such as “RNA polymerase II proximal promoter sequence-specific DNA binding” (P=2.49×10-6), participated in the biological processes such as “regulation of transcription, DNA-templated” (P=1.64×10-11), and were mainly enriched in the cellular components such as “nucleoplasm” (P=4.30×10-10). KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the target genes of the upregulated miRNAs were mainly enriched in “Endocytosis” (P=0.000 4), while the target genes of the downregulated miRNAs were mainly enriched in the “Hippo signaling pathway” (P=0.004), and the above functional analysis results were statistically significant (P＜0.05). ConclusionThere are differentially expressed miRNAs in the pathogenesis of AIH, and these differentially expressed miRNAs can provide new targets for the clinical treatment of AIH.