Protective effect of Abrus cantoniensis Hance on acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury in mice

Objective:To observe the effect and mechanism of Abrus cantoniensis Hance on acute liver injury in-duced by acetaminophen (APAP) in mice.Methods:Forty healthy male Kunming mice were randomly divided into normal group, model group, positive group (200 mg/kg N-acetyl-L-cysteine), high and low dose of Abrus cantoniensis Hance groups (60 g/kg, 30 g/kg).After continuous administration for 8 days and five hours after the last administration, except for the normal group, the mice in the other groups were intraperitoneally injected with 265 mg/kg APAP to establish a liver injury model.The serum and liver tissue related biochemical indexes were measured, and the pathological changes of the liver tissue were examined.Hydrogen nuclear magnetic reso-nance-spectroscopy (¹H-NMR) metabolomics technique was adopted to establish the liver metabolite profile, and the effect of Abrus cantoniensis Hance on the changes of metabolic profile and potential biomarkers of APAP-in-duced acute liver injury in mice was analyzed.Results:Compared with the model group, Abrus cantoniensis Hance in different doses groups could significantly decrease the levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT), alanine aminotransferase (AST), malondialdehyde (MDA), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nitric oxide (NO), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) (P< 0.05 or P< 0.01), and increase the levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and glutathione (GSH) (P< 0.05 or P< 0.01).The high-dose group of Abrus cantoniensis Hance significantly reduced the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β(IL-1β) (P< 0.05 or P< 0.01), and could improve the liver injury.The total of eleven varying metabolites, including glutathione, leu-cine, taurine, glucose, glycine, alanine, creatine, etc., were found by¹H-NMR metabolomic analysis.They were mainly enriched in phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, taurine and taurine metabolism, glutathi-one metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism and other metabolic pathways.Conclusion: Abrus cantoniensis Hance has a protective effect on APAP-induced drug-induced liver injury in mice, and its mecha-nism is related to anti-oxidative stress, amino acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism and glucose metabolism.