Rapid Profiling and Identification of Vitexin Metabolites in Rat Urine, Plasma and Faeces after Oral Administration Using a UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer Coupled with Multiple Data-mining Methods

Title:Rapid Profiling and Identification of Vitexin Metabolites in Rat Urine, Plasma and Faeces after Oral Administration Using a UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer Coupled with Multiple Data-mining Methods

Volume: 22 Issue: 3

Author(s): Pingping Dong*, Lei Shi, Shaoping Wang, Shan Jiang, Haoran Li, Fan Dong , Jing Xu, Long Dai*Jiayu Zhang*

Affiliation:

• School of Pharmacy, Bin Zhou Medical University, Yantai 260040,China

• School of Pharmacy, Bin Zhou Medical University, Yantai 260040,China

• School of Pharmacy, Bin Zhou Medical University, Yantai 260040,China

Keywords: Vitexin, UHPLC-Q-Exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer, metabolites, flavonoid, analysis strategy, biotransformation.

Abstract:

Background: Vitexin is a natural flavonoid compound with multiple pharmacological activities and is extracted from the leaves and seeds of Vitex negundo L. var. cannabifolia (Sieb. et Zucc.) Hand.-Mazz. However, the metabolite characterization of this component remains insufficient.

Objective: To establish a rapid profiling and identification method for vitexin metabolites in rat urine, plasma and faeces after oral administration using a UHPLC-Q-Exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer were coupled with multiple data-mining methods.

Methods: In this study a simple and rapid systematic strategy for the detection and identification of constituents was proposed based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry in parallel reaction monitoring mode combining diagnostic fragment ion filtering techniques.

Results: A total of 49 metabolites were fully or partially characterized based on their accurate mass, characteristic fragment ions, retention times, corresponding ClogP values, and so on. It is obvious that C-glycosyl flavonoids often display an [M+H-120]⁺ ion that represents the loss of C₄H₈O₄. As a result, these metabolites were presumed to be generated through glucuronidation, sulfation, deglucosylation, dehydrogenation, methylation, hydrogenation, hydroxylation, ring cleavage and their composite reactions. Moreover, the characteristic fragmentation pathways of flavonoids, chalcones and dihydrochalcones were summarized for the subsequent metabolite identification.

Conclusion: The current study provided an overall metabolic profile of vitexin which will be of great help in predicting the in vivo pharmacokinetic profiles and understanding the action mechanism of this active ingredient.

Cite this article as:

Dong Pingping *, Shi Lei , Wang Shaoping , Jiang Shan , Li Haoran , Dong Fan , Xu Jing , Dai Long *, Zhang Jiayu *, Rapid Profiling and Identification of Vitexin Metabolites in Rat Urine, Plasma and Faeces after Oral Administration Using a UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer Coupled with Multiple Data-mining Methods, Current Drug Metabolism 2021; 22 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389200221999210101232841