AUTHOR=Wang Yinjie , Ning Yu , He Ting , Chen Yingtong , Han Wenhui , Yang Yinping , Zhang Cui-Xian 

TITLE=Explore the Potential Ingredients for Detoxification of Honey-Fired Licorice (ZGC) Based on the Metabolic Profile by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2022.924685

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2022.924685

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=Licorice is well known for its ability to reduce the toxicity of the whole prescription in traditional Chinese medicine theory. However, honey-fired licorice (ZGC for short), which is made of licorice after being stir-fried with honey water, is more commonly used for clinical practice. The metabolism in vivo and detoxification-related compounds of ZGC have not been fully elucidated. In this work, the chemical constituents in ZGC and its metabolic profile in rats were both identified by high ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). The network pharmacology was applied to predict the potential detoxifying ingredients of ZGC. As a result, a total of 115 chemical compounds were identified or tentatively characterized in ZGC aqueous extract, and 232 xenobiotics (70 prototypes and 162 metabolites) were identified in serum, heart, liver, kidneys, feces and urine. Furthermore, 41 compounds absorbed in serum, heart, liver and kidneys were employed for exploring detoxification of ZGC by network pharmacology. Ultimately, 13 compounds (5 prototypes including P5, P24, P30, P41 and P44, and 8 phase Ⅰ metabolites including M23, M47, M53, M93, M100, M106, M118 and M134) and 9 targets were anticipated to be potential mediums regulating detoxification actions. The network pharmacology analysis had shown that the ZGC could detoxify mainly though regulating the related targets of cytochrome P450 and glutathione. In summary, this study would be helpful for revealing potential active ingredients in vivo for detoxification of ZGC and provided practical evidence for explaining the theory of traditional Chinese medicine with modern technology.