Exploration of the Hepatoprotective Effect and Mechanism of Swertia mussotii Franch in an Acute Liver Injury Rat Model

Background and Objective: Swertia mussotii Franch, also known as “Zangyinchen”, is one of a Tibetan traditional herb used for treatment of liver diseases over thousands of years at Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has been confirmed to be hepatoprotective. However, the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. Materials and Method: In this study, we evaluated the effect of S. mussotii treatment in a carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver injury rat model by examining the serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin levels and performing histological observations of the liver tissues. Meanwhile, the metabolomics analysis was used to explore the molecular mechanism of S. mussotii treatment by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results: The results showed that S. mussotii treatment could effectively improve the serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin in acute liver injury rat model. Histological observation showed that S. mussotii treatment could effectively alleviate liver injury. Moreover, the metabolomics analysis showed that S. mussotii treatment could normalize the levels of many fatty acid metabolism related metabolites. And the results of pathway analysis showed that these metabolites significantly enriched in fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (myristic acid, dodecanoic acid and capric acid) and linoleic acid metabolism pathway (13-OxoODE). Conclusion: The results indicated that S. mussotii treatment could significantly improve acute liver injury through affecting the pathways related to lipid metabolism.