The disturbance of hepatic and serous lipids in aristolochic acid I induced rats for hepatotoxicity using lipidomics approach

Abstract

Aristolochic acid I (AAI) was regarded as the major toxic component of aristolochic acid (AA). In addition to aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN), liver cancers induced by AAI has aroused increasing attention recently. In this paper, the discovery of diagnostic biomarkers for AAI-induced liver injury has been studied, especially for the lipid markers. From the histopathological characteristics, the injury was observed clearly in the liver apart from the kidney after 30 mg/kg of AAI treatment for one week, while the lesion alleviated after AAI discontinuance. The serum biochemical indexes were manifested to the normal tendency after AAI discontinuance for two weeks. According to the evaluation of pathology slices and serum biochemical indexes, they indicated that the hepatotoxicity induced by AAI was reversible to some extent. A total of 44 lipid markers were identified in the liver, as well as 59 in the serum. Twenty-six common lipid markers were observed in both serum and liver. Furthermore, nine out of 26 lipids exhibited the excellent diagnostic ability to differentiate the control group from the AAI group and AAI discontinuance group with high sensitivity and specificity. The changed lipid markers might serve as characteristics to explain the mechanisms of pathogenesis and progression in hepatotoxicity induced by AAI.