Fermented Ginsenosides Alleviate Acute Liver Injury Induced by CCl4 in Mice by Regulating the AKT/mTOR Signaling Pathway.

Abstract

This study investigated the alleviating effect of fermented ginsenosides obtained through yeast strain fermentation transformation on acute liver injury (ALI) induced by CCl4. Strains were screened for their ability to produce β-glucosidase, the transformation ability of the strain was verified by high-performance liquid chromatography, and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain F6 was obtained by 26S rRNA sequencing. After fermentation by F6 strain, it was found that the content of ginsenosides Re, Rb1, and Rb2 was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and rare ginsenosides were detected, with the content of Rh4 and Rg5 reaching 2.65 mg·g-1 and 2.56 mg·g-1. We also explored the preventive effect of fermented ginsenoside extract (FGE) on ALI. Mice were evenly divided into 9 groups as follows: control group, ALI model group, positive drug bifendate group, and treatment group, which included 3 ginsenoside extract (GE) groups and 3 FGE groups (dosage of 150, 300, and 450 mg·kg-1 b.w.). The results showed that compared with the ALI model group, FGE significantly increased the levels of glutathione peroxidase, hydroperoxidase, and superoxide dismutase and also decreased the malondialdehyde level. The levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and total bilirubin markers were significantly reduced, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β were significantly decreased. Bioinformatics analysis combined with Western blot validation explored the molecular mechanism of the effect of FGE. It was found that FGE could downregulate the expression of the p-AKT/AKT and the p-mTOR/mTOR ratios. These results suggested that FGE played an alleviative role in ALI by promoting autophagy to inhibit the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.