Investigation of Liver Injury of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. in Rats by Metabolomics and Traditional Approaches

Liver injury induced by Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (PM) have been reported since 2006, which aroused widespread concern. However, the toxicity mechanism of PM liver injury remained unclear. In this study, the mechanism of liver injury induced by different doses of PM after long-term administration was investigated in rats by metabolomics and traditional approaches. Rats were randomly divided into control group and PM groups. PM groups were oral administered PM of low (10 g/kg), medium (20 g/kg), high (40 g/kg) dose, while control group was administered distilled water. After 28 days of continuous administration, the serum biochemical indexes in the control and three PM groups were measured and the liver histopathology were analyzed. Also, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS with untargeted metabolomics was performed to identify the possible metabolites and pathway of liver injury caused by PM. Compared with the control group, the serum levels of ALT, AST, ALP, TG, and TBA in middle and high dose PM groups were significantly increased. And the serum contents of T-Bil, D-Bil, TC, TP were significantly decreased. However, there was no significant difference between the low dose group of PM and the control group except serum AST, TG, T-Bil, and D-Bil. Nine biomarkers were identified based on biomarkers analysis. And the pathway analysis indicated that fat metabolism, amino acid metabolism and bile acid metabolism were involved in PM liver injury. Based on the biomarker pathway analysis, PM changed the lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism and bile acid metabolism and excretion in a dose-dependent manner which was related to the mechanism of liver injury.