Clinical formulation Zhigan Oral Liquid intervenes in alcoholic liver injury by regulating the intestinal flora and PI3K⧵AKT⧵NF-κB pathway

•There are advantages worth discussing.•Firstly, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on new dosage form of hospital preparations–ZOL, a valuable source of Chinese medicine Professor Zhao Wenxia clinical experience.•Secondly, ZOL demonstrated the preventive and improvement effect of alcoholic liver injury in an alcoholic liver injury model.•The ZOL also showed a protective effect on the alcohol-induced, injured liver.•Thirdly, our study provides prediction with simple validation of the mechanism of action and may lead to more intensive and lead to the possibility of more profound and detailed experiments in the future. Zhigan Oral Liquid (ZOL) was developed from the empirical formulation of Professor Zhao Wenxia, a nationally renowned practitioner of Chinese medicine, and it has been used in Chinese medicine for many years for the effective treatment of alcoholic liver damage (ALD). However, the interventional mechanism of action of the dosage indications for different stages of ALD pathogenesis is not clear. The main chemical components of ZOL were qualitatively analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) in tandem with quadrupole electrostatic field orbital well high resolution mass spectrometry and quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Network pharmacological analysis was performed to predict the targets and pathways of the potential pharmacodynamic components. The pharmacodynamic effects and potential target mechanisms were verified in a murine model of ALD. To observe the effect of ZOL on the intestinal flora, 16s rDNA sequencing was performed on ALD mice. ZOL can achieve alcohol detoxification by increasing the activity of ALDH and other detoxification enzymes and can intervene in the process of alcoholic liver injury and liver fibrosis by regulating the alcohol-induced bacterial dysbiosis, increasing the level of antioxidants, and inhibiting the activation of the PI3K\AKT\NF-κB signaling pathway. Kakkalide, Luteolin, Puerarin, tectoridin, and dihydromyricetin are related to the flavonoids that may be the main pharmacodynamic components that exert their medicinal effects. The findings have significant implications for the development of Empirical treatments for alcoholic liver injury. Furthermore, the study contributes to promoting development and utilization of new dosage forms of hospital preparations by emphasizing the composition identification and animal ex