Metabolic characterization of (±)-praeruptorin A in vitro and in vivo by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

• Metabolite of praeruptorin A (PA) was characterized in vivo and in vitro using pMRM-IDA-EPI and EMS-IDA-EPI modes.
• CYP450 and plasmic carboxylesterase(s) are responsible for the low bioavailability of PA.
• Gut flora-mediated biotransformation was not observed for PA.
• The proposed approach is a preferable analytical tool for the metabolic characterization.

(±)-Praeruptorin A (PA) is the major bioactive component in Peucedani Radix (Chinese name: Qian-hu), and exhibits dramatically anti-hypertensive effect typically through acting as a calcium channel blocker. The current study aims on the characterization of the metabolic profiles of PA in vitro and in vivo using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (Q-trap-MS) and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS). A total of 12 phase I metabolites (M1–12) in rat liver microsomes (RLMs), 9 phase I metabolites (M1–3, M5–6 and M9–12) in human liver microsomes (HLMs), 2 hydrolyzed products in rat plasma (M11 and M12), none metabolite in human plasma, none metabolite in rat intestinal bacteria, 7 metabolites (M1, M4–7, M13 and M15) in PA-treated rat urine and 6 metabolites (M1, M4–7 and M15) in PA-treated feces were detected and tentatively identified using predictive multiple reaction monitoring-information dependent acquisition-enhanced product ion (predictive MRM-IDA-EPI) mode in combination with enhanced mass spectrum-information dependent acquisition-enhanced product ion (EMS-IDA-EPI) mode in the mass spectrometer domain, respectively, while TOF-MS was adopted to confirm the identification. Further, 2 glucuronidated metabolites (M13–14) in RLMs and none metabolite in HLMs of cis-khellactone (CKL), which was the main actual form of PA in vivo, were generated, while its sulfated product was not observed in either rat liver S9 fractions (RS9) or human liver S9 fractions (HS9). Oxidation, hydrolysis, intra-molecular acyl migration and glucuronidation were demonstrated to be the predominant metabolic types for PA in vitro and in vivo. Judging from the decrement of peak areas, PA was metabolized quickly in both RLMs and HLMs, indicating extensively hepatic first-pass elimination. Taken together, the metabolic fates of (±)-praeruptorin A in vitro and in vivo were elucidated in current study, and Q-trap-MS coupled with LightSight™ software can be adopted as a useful tool for quick detection and identification of metabolites in complex biological matrices.

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