Research on the effectiveness and material basis of <i>Ligusticum chuanxiong</i> in alleviating acute liver injury

作者全名："Lu, Lingzhi; Lu, Taotao; Wu, Yajing; Wang, Yunhong; Ke, Xiumei; Yang, Rongping"

作者地址："[Lu, Lingzhi; Lu, Taotao; Wu, Yajing; Yang, Rongping] Southwest Univ, Sch Pharmaceut Sci, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [Wang, Yunhong] Chongqing Acad Chinese Materia Med, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [Ke, Xiumei] Chongqing Med Univ, Chongqing, Peoples R China"

通信作者："Ke, XM (通讯作者)，Chongqing Med Univ, 1 Yixueyuan Rd, Chongqing 400016, Peoples R China.; Yang, RP (通讯作者)，Southwest Univ, Sch Pharmaceut Sci, 2 Tiansheng Rd, Chongqing 400715, Peoples R China."

来源：JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY

ESI学科分类：PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY

WOS号：WOS:001048586500001

JCR分区：Q1

影响因子：4.8

年份：2023

卷号：314

期号：　

开始页：　

结束页：　

文献类型：Article

关键词：Ligusticum chuanxiong; Effective parts; Liver injury; GC-MS; LC-MS; Network pharmacology

摘要："Ethnopharmacological relevance: As an effective medicinal plant, Ligusticum chuanxiong (L. chuanxiong) is traditionally used in China to treat various kinds of dysesthesia caused by liver qi stagnation, chest paralysis and heart pain caused by liver blood stagnation, and bruises and injuries caused by blood stasis. Recent research has confirmed the efficacy of L. chuanxiong in treating liver injury. Aim of the study: L. chuanxiong has significant hepatoprotective effects, but its material basis and mechanism of action are still ambiguous. This work was to reveal the potential active ingredients (parts) of L. chuanxiong for liver protection and to investigate the pharmacological mechanism of its liver protection. Materials and methods: The hepatoprotective substance basis and mechanism of L. chuanxiong were investigated using network pharmacology, and the active components of L. chuanxiong extract were studied using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analytical techniques. Molecular docking was adopted to verify the interaction between the active ingredients in L. chuanxiong and the key targets involved in liver injury. To confirm the hepatoprotective effects of the effective part in L. chuanxiong, a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute liver injury model in mice was used. Results: As a result, network pharmacological analysis techniques were used to screen out potential active ingredients such as ferulic acid, caffeic acid, and p-coumaric acid, which were concentrated in the organic acid site and acted on 19 key targets related to liver protection. The biological process involved the positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthesis, and various signaling pathways were implicated, including the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, the TNF signaling pathway, and others. LC-MS and GC-MS qualitatively analyzed the effective components from L. chuanxiong extract, and 50 active components were identified. The molecular docking of key components with the core targets showed good activity, which validated the predicted results. In the final analysis, a mouse model of acute liver injury induced by CCl4 further verified the greater protective effect of the organic acid fraction of L. chuanxiong on liver injury in mice compared with other parts. Conclusion: The results reveal that L. chuanxiong may relieve liver damage, and the organic acids were the main active part in it. Its mechanism of alleviating liver injury is related to positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthesis, the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, the TNF signaling pathway, and so on."

基金机构：　

基金资助正文：