Therapeutic effect of Chaishao Liujunzi Decoction on mice with alcoholic liver damage and its mechanism

Abstract

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of Chaishao Liujunzi Decoction (CLD) on alcoholic liver da-mage (ALD) and its mechanism. Methods A total of 50 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control group (group A), model group (group B), low-dose CLD group (group C), middle-dose CLD group (group D), and high-dose CLD group (group E). The mice in groups B, C, D, and E were given ethanol solution (6 g/kg) by gavage at a volume fraction of 0.56 every day, and at the same time, the mice in groups C, D, and E were given CLD by gavage at a dose of 2.5, 5, and 10 g/kg, respectively, every day; the mice in group A were given an equal volume of normal saline by gavage, once a day for 15 d. Body weight was measured every 5 d. After the experiment, fresh feces was collected from each group of mice, plate culture after gradient dilution was performed to analyze the composition of intestinal flora in feces; after the mice were anesthetized, blood samples were collected from the eyes to measure the serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBIL), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC); after the mice were sacrificed, the liver was collected to calculate the liver index; HE staining was performed for liver tissue sections to observe pathological changes. Results On day 15, compared with group B, groups C and E had a significant increase in body weight (q=4.217-7.573,P<0.05), and group E had a significant reduction in liver index (q=4.997,P<0.05). Compared with group B, groups C, D, and E had significant reductions in the serum levels of ALT, AST, γ-GT, ALP, TBIL, and TG in a dose-dependent manner (q=4.705-19.790,P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the serum level of TC (P>0.05). Liver histopathological analysis showed that compared with group B, groups C, D, and E had alleviation of liver pathological injury. The analysis of intestinal flora showed that compared with group B, groups D and E had significant reductions in the abundance of Enterobacter and Enterococcus (q=7.209-11.730,P<0.05) and significant increases in the abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the intestinal tract of mice (q=4.811-23.470,P<0.05), and compared with group B, group E had a significantly higher abundance of Bacteroides in the intestinal tract (q=4.651,P<0.05). Conclusion CLD can effectively regulate the intestinal flora of mice with ALD and improve the liver function of mice, thereby exerting a therapeutic effect on mice with ALD.

Keywords

• chaishao liujunzi decoction|liver diseases, alcoholic|liver function tests|gastrointestinal microbiome|mice|inbred c57bl