Screening hepatoprotective effective components of Lonicerae japonica Flos based on the spectrum-effect relationship and its mechanism exploring

Lonicerae japonicae Flos (LF) is a kind of healthcare food with hepatoprotective function. This study was designed to explore the spectrum-effect relationships between UPLC fingerprints and the hepatoprotective effects of LF. Fingerprints of ten batches of LF were established by UPLC-PDA. The inhibitory levels of AST and ALT were used as pharmacological indexes, and secoxyloganin, isochlorogenic acid A and isochlorogenic acid C were screened as hepatoprotective active compounds by grey relational analysis (GRA) and partial least squares regression analysis (PLSR). Caspase-3 was obtained by network pharmacology as a key target of hepatoprotective active compounds. Molecular docking is used to explore the interaction between small molecules and proteins. This work provided a general model of the combination of UPLC-PDA and hepatoprotective effect to study the spectrum-effect relationship of LF, which can be used to considerable methods and insight for the fundamental research of the material basis of similar healthcare food. •This paper explored the hepatoprotective compounds of Lonicerae japonicae Flos (LF), which provides a new idea for the quality control and research direction in the future.•For the first time, LF hepatoprotective compounds have been explored by the spectrum-effect relationship.•At the same time, grey relational analysis (GRA) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) analysis were both used to establish the spectrum-effect relationship.•The anti-apoptotic mechanism of LF active compound was explored by molecular docking technique.