Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry-characterized extract of Aerides odorata Lour alleviates paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in animal model evidenced by biochemical, molecular, and computational studies

Background: Many kinds of orchids have significant health benefits although adequate research on their biological functions is yet to be carried out. This study investigated the paracetamol-induced liver damage-protecting effect of epiphytic Aerides odorata methanol extract (AODE).

Methods: The protective effects of AODE were studied by analyzing its effect on liver function parameters, messenger RNA (mRNA) expression, and tissue histopathological architecture. The results were confirmed by ligand-receptor interaction of molecular docking and multitarget interaction of network pharmacological analyses.

Results: AODE significantly (p < 0.05) minimized the dose-dependent increase in acid phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyl transferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and total bilirubin compared to the reference drug silymarin. Malondialdehyde level decreased, and the antioxidant genes catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), β-actin, paraoxonase-1 (PON1), and phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1) were upregulated in AODE-treated paracetamol-intoxicated rats. A total of 376 compounds comprising phenols and flavonoids were identified using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-qTOF-MS). The online toxicity assessment using SwissADME and admetSAR exhibited drug-like, nontoxic, and potential pharmacological properties. Additionally, in silico analysis showed that isoacteoside, one of the identified compounds, exhibited the best docking score (-11.42) with the liver protein human pituitary adenylate cyclase-1 (Protein Data Bank ID: 3N94). Furthermore, network pharmacology analysis identified the top 10 hub genes, namely AKT1 (protein kinase B), CTNNB1 (catenin beta-1), SRC (proto-oncogene c-Src), TNF (tumor necrosis factor), EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), HSP90AA1 (heat shock protein 90α), MAPK3 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 3), STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3), CASP3 (caspase protein), and ESR1 (estrogen receptor 1), which are responsible for hepatoprotective activity.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that AODE could be a novel hepatoprotective target in drug-induced liver damage with a further single compound-based animal study.