Screening and Identification of the Metabolites in Rat Plasma and Urine after Oral Administration of Areca catechu L. Nut Extract by Ultra-High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Linear Ion Trap-Orbitrap Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

Lulu Li,Ruirui Yang,Yang Liu,Mengwei Li,Baosheng Zhao,Hao Wang,Aoxue Liu,Zhiqiang Luo,Xinjing Chen,Guohua Yu,Jialian Zhu

doi:10.3390/molecules22061026

Abstract

Areca catechu L. nut, a well-known toxic traditional herbal medicine, has been widely used to treat various diseases in China and many other Asian countries for centuries. However, to date the in vivo absorption and metabolism of its multiple bioactive or toxic components still remain unclear. In this study, liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was used to analyze the major components and their metabolites in rat plasma and urine after oral administration of Areca catechu L. nut extract (ACNE). A total of 12 compounds, including 6 alkaloids, 3 tannins and 3 amino acids, were confirmed or tentatively identified from ACNE. In vivo, 40 constituents, including 8 prototypes and 32 metabolites were identified in rat plasma and urine samples. In summary, this study showed an insight into the metabolism of ACNE in vivo, which may provide helpful chemical information for better understanding of the toxicological and pharmacological profiles of ACNE.

Highlights

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an important role in preventing or treating a variety of complicated diseases over thousands of years [1,2,3]
Areca catechu L. nut was obtained from Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China), and authenticated by Professor Jingjuan Wang (Beijing University of Chinese Medicine)
A sensitive LC/MS method was established for the comprehensive analysis and profiling of the multiple components of Areca catechu L. nut extract (ACNE) and their absorption and metabolite components in rats after oral administration

Summary

Introduction

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an important role in preventing or treating a variety of complicated diseases over thousands of years [1,2,3]. It is extensively accepted that the therapeutic or toxic effect of TCM results from the prototype components and/or their metabolites [4,5]. Profiling the absorbed components and metabolites of an herbal medicine in vivo is always a great challenge [6]. Owing to its high selectivity and sensitivity, liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) has been extensively used in drug metabolism studies. LC–MS/MS combined with sophisticated software tools can offer abundant structural information and accurate mass measurement for both precursor and product ions, which represents a powerful and reliable analytical technique to detect and identify unknown metabolites in complex matrixes [8,9,10,11,12]

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Methods

Discussion

Conclusion