Ligustrum × vicaryi Fruit Polysaccharide Attenuates LPS/D-GalN-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice
- 1School of Pharmacy, Jining Medical University, Rizhao 276826, China
- 2Institute of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Jining Key Laboratory of Immunology, Jining Medical University, Jining 272067, China
Abstract
The dried fruits of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. are well-established in East Asian medicine for hepatoprotection. Given this ethnopharmacological precedent and their close taxonomic kinship, we hypothesized that the fruit polysaccharide of its horticultural congener, Ligustrum × vicaryi L. (LVFP), may confer analogous hepatic benefits. We assessed LVFP in a murine model of acute liver injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide and D-galactosamine (LPS/D-GalN) to test this hypothesis. LVFP pretreatment significantly mitigated hepatic pathological damage, normalized serum aminotransferases (AST, ALT), and reversed lipid peroxidation (reduced MDA, elevated SOD). Simultaneously, LVFP reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and corrected lipid metabolic abnormalities (CHO, TG). To decode these phenotypic rescues, network pharmacology and molecular docking nominated a 10-gene hub signature (featuring KDR (binding energy = −8.65 kcal/mol), AKT1, GSK3B, and IL2). we further found that this signature—particularly KDR and PKM—robustly discriminates ALI from controls (AUC = 1.00; AUPR = 0.848), supporting its disease relevance. Collectively, these findings support our initial hypothesis that LVFP exerts multi-dimensional hepatoprotection.
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BibTeX
@article{liu2026ligustrum,
title = {{Ligustrum × vicaryi Fruit Polysaccharide Attenuates LPS/D-GalN-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice}},
author = {Shu-Ling Liu and Hui Zhang and Jian-An Wang and Run-Dong Lv and Shao-Jian Li and Li-Tao Wang},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27198805},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8805},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ligustrum × vicaryi Fruit Polysaccharide Attenuates LPS/D-GalN-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice
AU - Shu-Ling Liu
AU - Hui Zhang
AU - Jian-An Wang
AU - Run-Dong Lv
AU - Shao-Jian Li
AU - Li-Tao Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27198805
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/19/8805
AB - The dried fruits of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. are well-established in East Asian medicine for hepatoprotection. Given this ethnopharmacological precedent and their close taxonomic kinship, we hypothesized that the fruit polysaccharide of its horticultural congener, Ligustrum × vicaryi L. (LVFP), may confer analogous hepatic benefits. We assessed LVFP in a murine model of acute liver injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide and D-galactosamine (LPS/D-GalN) to test this hypothesis. LVFP pretreatment significantly mitigated hepatic pathological damage, normalized serum aminotransferases (AST, ALT), and reversed lipid peroxidation (reduced MDA, elevated SOD). Simultaneously, LVFP reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and corrected lipid metabolic abnormalities (CHO, TG). To decode these phenotypic rescues, network pharmacology and molecular docking nominated a 10-gene hub signature (featuring KDR (binding energy = −8.65 kcal/mol), AKT1, GSK3B, and IL2). we further found that this signature—particularly KDR and PKM—robustly discriminates ALI from controls (AUC = 1.00; AUPR = 0.848), supporting its disease relevance. Collectively, these findings support our initial hypothesis that LVFP exerts multi-dimensional hepatoprotection.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -