New polyketides from Liuweizhiji Gegen-Sangshen oral liquid and their anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective activities <i>in-vitro</i>, and molecular docking analysis

Liuweizhiji Gegen-Sangshen (LGS) oral liquid, a commercially available health product in China, has attracted extensive attention due to its application in treatment of alcoholic liver disease. Whereas, no studies on the chemical composition of LGS have been reported. In this work, two new polyketide compounds (1, 2), and ten known compounds (3-12) were purified and identified from LGS oral liquid whose structures were illuminated by detailed NMR, MS, and ECD calculations. The anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities of isolated monomers were tested. Compounds 2 and 3 reduced the content of NO induced by LPS, with IC50 values of 83.6±0.54 µM and 32.5±0.73 µM, respectively. The optimal bioactivity evaluations and molecule docking results showed that compound 3 had the potential to be developed as a lead drug with anti-inflammatory activity. In addition, compounds 1, 4, and 9 alleviated alcohol-induced damage to human hepatic L02 cells and reduced the release of ALT and AST, indicating that these compounds possess good hepatoprotective activity for the treatment of ALD. Furthermore, the possible pathway for the biosynthesis of compound 2 were also hypothesized.