ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1589946
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Progress on the Role of Gut Microbiota in the Incidence and Prevention of Liver DiseasesView all 17 articles
Rhus chinensis Mill. alleviated liver damage induced by Acetaminophen by regulating intestinal microbiota
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hubei Three Gorges Polytechnic, Yichang City, Hubei Province, China
- 2Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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Drug-induced liver injury is a common condition of therapeutics and requires solutions other than drugs. Dietary supplements and herbal products have beneficial potential against liver failure and are often associated with changes in intestinal flora.This study was designed to investigate Rhus chinensis Mill's (RCM) potential in alleviating drug-induced liver injury. The treatment group and model group were administered 0.5 mL of RCM oil daily for 14 days, followed by induction of acute drug-induced liver injury using Acetaminophen (APAP) on the 15 th day via intraperitoneal injection. Serum biochemical analysis and intestinal bacteria 16S rRNA sequencing were conducted to explore the anti-drug liver injury activity of RCM. The results showed that RCM treatment alleviated the increased liver organ index caused by APAP. Furthermore, serum biochemical analysis revealed that RCM therapy reduced alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels, indicating a protective effect against APAP-induced liver injury. Additionally, RCM demonstrated the ability to regulate the diversity and composition of intestinal microbes and help increase the prevalence of beneficial microbes such as Faecalibaculum and Odoribacter while reducing the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria, including Corynebacterium, Rikenella, Bacillus, Phocaeicola, and Alloprevotella. Our findings indicate that RCM plays a significant role in mitigating drug-induced liver injury by improving gut microbiome composition, reducing plasma ALT and AST levels, and inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. The study further demands investigations to make pharmaceutical products to be used as nutraceuticals against drug-induced toxicities.
Keywords: Rhus chinensis Mill, microbiota, intestinal inflammation, metabolic pathway, Mice
Received: 08 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Chen, Xu, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kun Li, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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