# Plant metabolomics reveals changes in the composition of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F processed by liquorice

## TL;DR

This study uses plant metabolomics to identify chemical changes in a traditional Chinese herb after being processed with liquorice, which may explain reduced toxicity.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific differential compounds in TwHF and liquorice after processing, offering insights into the mechanism of toxicity reduction.

## Key findings

- Three compounds in TwHF (triptolide, celastrol, wilforlide A) were identified as differentially present.
- Nine differential compounds from liquorice were detected, including isoliquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid.
- The findings provide a chemical basis for the reduced toxicity of liquorice-processed TwHF.

## Abstract

Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF), a traditional Chinese herb with immunosuppressive activity, has demonstrated clinical efficacy in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. However, the clinical application of TwHF has been greatly limited owing to its toxicity. Previously, we showed that the toxicity of TwHF can be reduced by liquorice processing, but the material basis for this reduced toxicity remains unclear.

Here, we hypothesized that liquorice processing affects the components of TwHF. And LC-IT-TOF/MS together with plant metabolomics was applied to analyse the chemical composition of raw TwHF (Raw), TwHF combined with liquorice (Com), and TwHF processed by liquorice (Pro).

As a result, three differential compounds in TwHF, including triptolide, celastrol and wilforlide A, were tentatively identified. At the same time, we found that there were nine differential compounds from liquorice, including isoliquiritin, uralenin, coumestrol, liquiritigenin, schaftoside, glycyrrhizic acid, glyyunnanprosapogenin D, uralsaponin B and isolicoflavonol.

These results will provide a basis for the scientific and rational use of TwHF processed by liquorice in the clinic.