Studies on constituents of Polygonum multiflorum extract in vivo and in vitro based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS

Abstract

To explore the drug-induced constituents in vivo of Polygonum multiflorum extract (PM). This study was the first to study the drug-induced constituents in target organ liver. Agilent MassHunter qualitative analysis software and Metabolite ID software were applied for the analysis of retention time, exact relative molecular mass, primary and secondary mass spectrum information based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) and targeted-MS/MS. By comparison with literature and standards, a total of 5 prototypes and 6 metabolites were identified or tentatively elucidated from the liver samples. In addition, the drug-induced constituents in plasma and PM were also analyzed in this study and 8 prototypes and 19 metabolites were detected from the plasma samples, while 30 compounds were detected from the extract of PM. Emodin oxidative acetylation metabolites, hydroxyl methylation metabolites, carboxylation glucuronidation metabolites and ketone glucuronidation metabolites in this study were first reported. Through the comparative analysis between the in vivo and in vitro constituents of PM, the study preliminarily revealed the drug-induced constituents (prototypes and metabolites) in liver and clarified the transfer process and transmutation rules of constituents in PM, blood and liver, which would further deepen our understanding on constituents of PM in vivo.