Metabolic profiling reveals the protective effect of diammonium glycyrrhizinate on acute hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride

• Published in: Metabolomics Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 226 - 236
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaoyan, Lin, Jingchao, Chen, Tianlu, Zhou, Mingmei, Su, Mingming, Jia, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Developmental Biology; Glycyrrhiza; Life Sciences; Molecular Medicine; Original Article; Diammonium glycyrrhizinate; Metabolomics; Carbon tetrachloride; Acute liver injure
• ISSN: 1573-3882; 1573-3890
• DOI: 10.1007/s11306-010-0244-5

Diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG), a constitutent of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, has a protective effect on hepatic injury, hepatisis and cirrhosis. To date, the mechanism has been poorly understood, especially at the metabolic level. A metabolomic profiling study was performed to characterize the carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) induced global metabolic alteration and the protective effects of DG in Sprague-Dawley rats. Urinary and hepatic tissue metabolic profiling revealed that CCl 4 perturbed the amino acid metabolism (alanine, glycine, leucine), tricarboxylic acid cycle (citrate), lipid metabolism (unsaturated fatty acids) and gut microbiota related metabolites. Our results also indicated that DG was able to attenuate CCl 4 perturbed metabolic pathways and ameliorated biochemical markers of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and Total cholesterol (TCHO). This global metabolomic approach also revealed full metabolic recovery takes longer than apparent and conventional histological and biochemical markers.