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An application of target profiling analyses in the hepatotoxicity assessment of herbal medicines: comparative characteristic fingerprint and bile acid profiling of Senecio vulgaris L. and Senecio scandens Buch.-Ham

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Abstract

The toxicity assessment of herbal medicines is important for human health and appropriate utilization of these medicines. However, challenges have to be overcome because of the complexity of coexisting multiple components in herbal medicines and the highly interconnected organismal system. In this study, a target profiling approach was established by combining the characteristic fingerprint analysis of herbal chemicals with potential toxicity through a precursor ion scan-based mass spectroscopy and the target profiling analysis of biomarkers responsible for the toxicity. Through this newly developed approach, the comparative hepatotoxicity assessment of two herbal medicines from the same genus, Senecio vulgaris L. and Senecio scandens Buch.-Ham, was performed. Significant differences were found between the two species in their chemical markers (i.e., pyrrolizidine alkaloids) and biomarkers (i.e., bile acids) responsible for their toxicities. This result was consistent with the conventional toxicity assessment conducted by histopathological examination and clinical serum index assay on experimental animal models. In conclusion, this study provided a new approach for the hepatotoxicity assessment of herbal medicines containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are widely distributed in various herbal medicines. The target profiling approach may shed light on the toxicity assessment of other herbal medicines with potential toxicity.

The comparative hepatotoxicity assessment of two herbal medicines, Senecio vulgaris L. (SV) and Senecio scandens Buch.-Ham (SS), was performed by combining the characteristic fingerprint analysis of toxic chemical markers (i.e. pyrrolizidine akaloids) through a precursor ion scan-based mass spectroscopy and the target profiling analysis of toxic biomarkers (i.e. bile acids). It was found that SV was highly hepatotoxic as they contained higher concentration of toxic chemicals, which induced significant changes in the bile acid profile by the transcriptional regulation of their synthesis, excretion, and uptake

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1071), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (81222053), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-1056), the Shanghai Nature Science Foundation (12ZR1450300), the Rising-Star Scholar Project of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (12QH1402200), the Foundation for University Key Teacher of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology (12CG50), the Foundation for University Young Teachers of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (ZZSZY12014), the Hong Kong Scholars Program (XJ2012031), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2012 T50451).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China

    Aizhen Xiong, Lianxiang Fang, Xiao Yang, Fan Yang, Meng Qi, Hong Kang, Li Yang & Zhengtao Wang

  2. Division of Life Science, Center for Chinese Medicine and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China

    Aizhen Xiong & Karl Wah-Keung Tsim

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  1. Aizhen Xiong
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Correspondence to Li Yang or Zhengtao Wang.

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Xiong, A., Fang, L., Yang, X. et al. An application of target profiling analyses in the hepatotoxicity assessment of herbal medicines: comparative characteristic fingerprint and bile acid profiling of Senecio vulgaris L. and Senecio scandens Buch.-Ham. Anal Bioanal Chem 406, 7715–7727 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8175-z

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