Metabonomic study on the anti-liver injury effect of Si-Ni-San on rats by using UPLC-MS/MS

A UPLC-MS/MS method based on metabonomic skills was developed to study the serum metabolic changes of rats after acute liver injury induced by CCl₄ and to evaluate the action mechanism of Si-Ni-San. The integrated data were exported for principal components analysis (PCA) by using SIMCA-P software, in order to find the potential biomarkers. It showed that clear separation of healthy control group, model group, silymarin group, Si-Ni-San group was achieved by using the PCA method. Nine significantly changed metabolites were identified as potential biomarkers of acute liver injury. Compared with the health control group, the model group rats showed higher levels of phenylalanine, tryptophan and GCDCA together with lower levels of LPC 16:0, LPC 18:0, LPC 18:1, LPC 16:1, LPC 20:4 and LPC 22:6. These changes of serum metabolites suggested that the disorders of amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, bile acid biosynthesis and anti-oxidative damage were related to acute liver injury induced by CCl₄. Si-Ni-San might have the anti-liver injury effect on all these four metabolic pathways.