Evaluation of Toosendan Fructus-induced hepatotoxicity based on metabolic profile of fatty acids / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the hepatotoxicity caused by water extract with alcohol precipitating of Toosendan Fructus (TF) and Toosendan Fructus + Corydalis Rhizoma (TF + CR) based on metabolic profiling of fatty acids in mice serum. Methods: A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method was applied for simultaneous quantification of 15 fatty acids, including both non-esterified and esterified fatty acids, in the serum of control, TF-treated, and TF + CR-treated mice. Meanwhile, the change of fatty acid metabolic profile in liver injured mice was analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Results: The result of PCA showed that the metabolic profile of serum fatty acids in TF-treated mice significantly deviated from the normal level, and CR with hepatoprotective effect could obviously reverse the deviation. More importantly, the result of PLS-DA illustrated that palmitoleic acid, vaccenic acid, and arachidonic acid had important contribution on the hepatotoxicity induced by TF. Therefore, the three fatty acids were identified as potential biomarkers. Conclusion: Hepatotoxicity caused by TF has a good correlation with the metabolic profiling of fatty acid. The project can provide foundation for further investigation on the evaluation and mechanism of TF-induced hepatotoxicity.