Abstract

The action principles of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) feature multiactive components, multitarget sites, and weak combination with action targets. In the present study, we performed an integrated analysis of metabonomics, proteomics, and lipidomics to establish a scientific research system on the underlying mechanism of TCMs, and Schisandra lignan extract (SLE) was selected as a model TCM. In metabonomics, several metabolic pathways were found to mediate the liver injury induced by acetaminophen (APAP), and SLE could regulate the disorder of lipid metabolism. The proteomic study further proved that the hepatoprotective effect of SLE was closely related to the regulation of lipid metabolism. Indeed, the results of lipidomics demonstrated that SLE dosing has an obvious callback effect on APAP-induced lipidic profile shift. The contents of 25 diglycerides (DAGs) and 21 triglycerides (TAGs) were enhanced significantly by APAP-induced liver injury, which could further induce liver injury and inflammatory response by upregulating protein kinase C (PKCβ, PKCγ, PKCδ, and PKCθ). The upregulated lipids and PKCs could be reversed to the normal level by SLE dosing. More importantly, phosphatidic acid phosphatase, fatty acid transport protein 5, and diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 were proved to be positively associated with the regulation of DAGs and TAGs.