Metabonomic profiling in study hepatoprotective effect of polysaccharides from Flammulina velutipes on carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver injury rats using GC–MS

This study was performed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of FVP on carbon tetrachloride induced acute liver injury rats. Transaminase levels, antioxidant effect and histopathology were used to assess the recovery of FVP treated acute liver injury rats. Metabolomic analysis of liver homogenate based on GC–MS was used to obtain a global understanding of metabolic change between acute liver injury model rats and FVP-treated rats in order to assess the underlying mechanisms. Multivariate statistical approaches such as principal component analysis and orthogonal projection to latent structure square-discriminant analysis revealed distinctions among the normal, liver injury model, and FVP groups. The results demonstrated that FVP had a hepatoprotective effect on acute liver injury by decreasing AST and ALT levels, enhancing antioxidant effect and attenuating pathological injury. Sixteen metabolites were identified as biomarkers. These biomarkers belonged to glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, galactose metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, TCA cycle, pyruvate metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism.