Study on the processing transformation law of CATR and ATR in Xanthii Fructus and the metabolomics mechanism of their transformation products in LO2 cells

The attenuated hepatotoxicity was primarily attributed to the thermal conversion of CATR to ATR. Metabolomic analysis revealed that CATR significantly impacted alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism and the TCA cycle, whereas ATR predominantly affected pyrimidine, arginine, and proline metabolism. Glutathione metabolism was a common pathway for both. Molecular docking simulations showed that CATR exhibited a stronger binding affinity than ATR towards key protein targets (DSS, DESG2, and ENTPD1), which is consistent with its greater toxicity.