Study on Translational toxicology of Senna obtusifolia aqueous extract

In recent years, the clinical adverse drug reactions (ADR) reports of Senna obtusifolia have been constantly emerging, especially hepatotoxicity. However, it is unclear whether the liver is the only or main toxic target organ. In this study, we conducted a repeated administration experiment with the Senna obtusifolia Aqueous Extract (SE) and PCA analysis was used to determine the primary toxic target organs. The results revealed that the liver was the main toxic target organ and we also verifid the hepatotoxicity in vitro. The mechanism of hepatotoxicity was predicted by network toxicology technology, which was verified by ELISA, qPCR, western blotting and other methods.The results showed that SE could increase the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, the mRNA expression levels of ACT1, TRAF6, NF-κB P65 and the protein expression levels of TRAF6, NF-κB P65, P-P65 in rat livers and HepG2 cells, which indicated that SE induced hepatotoxicity might be related to inflammatory response.