A Study on Gentiana dahurica Fisch Ethanol Extract Alleviating Alcoholic Liver Disease in Mice: A Metabolomic Analysis of the Liver

We clarified the hepatoprotective effect of Gentiana dahurica Fisch ethanol extract (GDEE) in our previous study, and we further revealed the mechanism with the help of metabolomics technology in this study. The livers from Control group, Alcohol group, and Alcohol + GDEE group were analyzed by metabolomics. The metabolites in the liver were separated by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and were tentatively identified using mass spectrometry (MS)/MS analysis. Differential metabolites were defined with VIP > 1 and P < 0.05. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were applied to analyze differences among these groups. The results showed that the groups could be clearly distinguished by PCA and OPLS-DA analysis. Alcohol and GDEE could change the overall profile of liver metabolites. Alterations in liver tissues of ALD mice induced by alcohol were mainly involved in the dipeptides, purine and pyrimidine metabolism and glucose and lipid metabolism, which could be partly affected by GDEE. This study revealed that the mechanism of GDEE in alleviating ALD had the characteristics of multitarget and multipathway.