Identification of metabolites of Helicid in vivo using ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Helicid is an active natural aromatic phenolic glycoside ingredient originating from a well-known traditional Chinese herbal medicine and has the significant effects of sedative hypnosis, anti-inflammatory analgesia and antidepressant. In this study, we analyzed the potential metabolites of Helicid in rats by multiple mass defect filter and dynamic background subtraction in ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Moreover, we used a novel data processing method, 'key product ions', to rapidly detect and identify metabolites as an assistant tool. MetabolitePilot™ 2.0 software and PeakView™ 2.2 software were used for analyzing metabolites. Twenty metabolites of Helicid (including 15 phase I metabolites and five phase II metabolites) were detected by comparison with the blank samples. The biotransformation route of Helicid was identified as demethylation, oxidation, dehydroxylation, hydrogenation, decarbonylation, glucuronide conjugation and methylation. This is the first study simultaneously detecting and identifying Helicid metabolism in rats employing UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS technology. This experiment not only proposed a method for rapidly detecting and identifying metabolites, but also provided useful information for further study of the pharmacology and mechanism of Helicid in vivo. Furthermore, it provided an effective method for the analysis of other aromatic phenolic glycosides metabolic components in vivo.

Identification of Metabolites of Eupatorin in Vivo and in Vitro Based on UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS

“…The bile collection: Each rat was injected 20% urethane solution intraperitoneally with 1–2 mL to anesthetize the rats after gavage. Then the rats were performed with bile duct cannulation operation and the bile samples were gathered during 0–1 h, 1–3 h, 3–5 h, 5–8 h, 8–12 h, 12–20 h and 20–24 h with PE-10 tubes (ID = 0.07 cm) [33,34]. Lastly, all bile samples were consolidated and frozen at −80 °C.…”

Identification of metabolites of Ginkgolide B in vivo and in vitro using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

“…SCXK 2013-1-003, weighing 220±10 g; 7-8 weeks of age) were obtained from the Experimental Animal Center of Hebei Laboratory Animal Center (Shijiazhuang, China). Animals were maintained in an environmentally controlled breeding room with temperature of 22°C, relative humidity of 55±5% and 12 h light/dark cycle for at least 7 days before the experiment [24]. Rats were randomly divided into three groups of six rats per group.…”