Metabolic profiling and pharmacokinetic studies of sinapine thiocyanate by UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS and UHPLC-MS/MS

Metabolic profiling and pharmacokinetic studies of alkamides, a pair of cis-trans isomers N-isobutyl-2E,4E,8Z,10E/Z-dodecatetraenamide, from Asari Radix et Rhizoma by UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS and UHPLC-MS/MS

Cis-trans isomers of N-isobutyl-2E,4E,8Z,10E-dodecatetraenamide (DDA-E) and N-isobutyl-2E,4E,8Z,10Z-dodecatetraenamide (DDA-Z) are representative alkamides with numbness of tongue, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Asari Radix et Rhizoma. However, their respective metabolic pathways and pharmacokinetic behaviors are still unknown. This study aim to investigate the metabolism of the two alkamides in vitro and in vivo using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadruple-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Furthermore, a rapid, sensitive, and selective ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to quantify DDA-E/Z in rat plasma. Results indicated that DDA-E and DDA-Z showed significant differences in metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Across all samples, 24 metabolites of DDA-E and 21 metabolites of DDA-Z were detected. A variety of pathways were involved in the production of these metabolites, mainly hydroxylation and oxidation. The linear range of DDA-E/Z was 1-2500 ng/mL (R2 = 0.9984), and the lowest quantification limit was 1 ng/mL. Precision, accuracy, extraction recovery, matrix effect, and stability of DDA-E/Z were within acceptable limits. Pharmacokinetic research was conducted using male Sprague-Dawley rats receiving intravenous (1 mg/kg) or intragastric (40 mg/kg) administration of DDA-E or DDA-Z solution. There was a calculated absolute bioavailability of 15.67 % for DDA-E and 4.83 % for DDA-Z when consumed orally. The apparent volume of distribution of intravenous and intragastric administrations were 4.44 ± 0.41 L/kg and 5.18 ± 0.67 L/kg for DDA-E, and 1.56 ± 1.66 L/kg and 2.35 ± 0.42 L/kg for DDA-Z. The maximal plasma concentrations of DDA-E and DDA-Z were 599.84 ± 149.92 nM and 422.09 ± 69.17 nM, and the time to maximum peak were 4.33 ± 3.51 h and 0.70 ± 1.12 h, respectively. In conclusion, in subsequent pharmacodynamics and safety evaluation studies, great attention should be paid to the metabolic characteristics and pharmacokinetic differences between DDA-E and DDA-Z.

Comprehensive Quality Assessment of Brassica napus L. Seeds via HPTLC, LC-QToF, and Anatomical Investigation

The Brassicaceae family, commonly referred to as cruciferous plants, is globally cultivated and consumed, with the Brassica genus being particularly renowned for its functional components. These vegetables are rich sources of nutrients and health-promoting phytochemicals, garnering increased attention in recent years. This study presents a comprehensive microscopic, chromatographic, and spectroscopic characterization of Brassica napus L. seeds from Kazakhstan aimed at elucidating their morphological features and chemical composition. Microscopic analysis revealed distinct localization of flavonoids, total lipids, and alkaloids. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) analysis of seed extracts demonstrated a complex chemical profile with significant quantities of non-polar compounds in the hexane extracts. Additionally, methanolic extracts revealed the presence of diverse chemical compounds, including alkaloids, flavonoids, and glucosinolates. The chemical composition exhibited varietal differences across different Brassica species, with B. napus L. seeds showing higher concentrations of bioactive compounds. Furthermore, liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QToF-MS) analysis provided insights into the chemical composition, with sinapine isomers, feruloyl, and sinapoyl choline derivatives as major compounds in the seeds. This study contributes to a better understanding of the chemical diversity and quality control methods' approximations of B. napus L. seeds, highlighting their importance in functional food and nutraceutical applications.

The mechanism of Sanzi Yangqin decoction for asthma treatment based on network pharmacology and experimental verification

BACKGROUND

Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease characterized by airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, airway hyper-reactivity. Sanzi Yangqin Decoction (SZYQD) is widely prescribed for asthma treatment. Its anti-asthma activities have been reported in animal model, but the exact mechanism and targets of SZYQD in asthma treatment have not been fully elucidated.

METHODS

A network pharmacological approach was used to predict the active components, targets, and signalling pathways of SZYQD in asthma, including potential target prediction, protein‒protein interaction (PPI) network construction and analysis, and Gene Ont (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. The active ingredients were identified from the SZYQD, and were molecular docked according to the results of network pharmacology. A mouse model of asthma induced by ovalbumin (OVA) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was constructed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of SZYQD. Furthermore, the effects of SZYQD and its active ingredients were tested in vitro for regulating inflammation and MUC5AC expression (two main pathophysiologic abnormalities of asthma) in macrophages and airway epithelial cells by using Real-time PCR and western blotting.

RESULTS

A total of 28 active ingredients and 111 HUB genes were screened in the relevant databases, including three key ingredients (luteolin, β-carotene, and Sinapine) and nine core target genes (JUN, CTNNB1, IL10, TP53, AKT1, STAT3, TNF, IL6 and EGFR). KEGG and GO analysis indicated that the potential anti-asthmatic mechanisms of SZYQD were related to PI3K-Akt signalling pathway and response to lipopolysaccharide, etc. In the in vivo asthmatic model, our findings demonstrated that SZYQD exerted a protective effect against asthmatic mice induced by OVA and LPS through the inhibition of inflammation and mucus overproduction. Consistently, cell experiments showed that the SZYQD extract or the key active ingredients luteolin significantly decreased lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-6 expression and activation of the NF-κB pathway in macrophages. In addition, SZYQD extract or luteolin inhibited activation of the AKT pathway and expression of MUC5AC induced by EGF in airway epithelial cells.

CONCLUSION

The anti-asthmatic mechanism of SZYQD might be associated with inhibiting inflammation and airway mucus hypersecretion by regulating the NF-κB and AKT signalling pathways as predicted by network pharmacology, which provides more evidence for the application of SZYQD in asthma treatment.

Characterization of the metabolic fate of sinapic acid in rats

Sinapic acid (SA) is ubiquitously distributed in the plant kingdom as a free organic acid and more frequently as a biosynthetic pioneer for SA derivatives, e.g., SA esters. Broad biological and pharmacological activities have been disclosed for SA. Because of the metabolism lability property, metabolites instead of the parent compound should be the primary forms after oral treatment of SA, and those metabolites should also be rapidly observed from SA following administration of SA derivative. Hence, the metabolites might provide a primary contribution to the pharmacological properties of SA; however, the metabolite profile remains unclear. Here, our efforts were devoted to addressing this issue through deploying online energy-resolved mass spectrometry (ER-MS) to accomplish isomer identification which is the key issue hindering metabolite identification, notably those conjugated metabolites. After recording breakdown graphs of concerned fragment ions with online ER-MS, the positive correlations between optimal collision energy (OCE) and bond dissociation energy (BDE) were applied to assign candidate structures to isomeric signals. Moreover, in vitro metabolism with liver cellular subfractions, UV-triggered cis-/trans-configuration transformation, and wet-chemistry hydrogenation were carried out to justify the structures. As a result, sixteen metabolites (M1-M16) were found and confirmatively identified in rat plasma and urine following SA administration, and sulfation, glucuronidation, demethylation, reduction, and dihydroxylation served as the primary metabolic channels. Noteworthily, greater distribution occurred for sulfation and glucuronidation products while inferior distributions were observed for phase I metabolites, and the half-life (T1/2) of most metabolites was greater than that of SA. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the metabolic fate of SA. More importantly, the fortification of online ER-MS and quantum structure calculation to the conventional LC-MS program is eligible to achieve unambiguous identification of isomeric metabolites.

Metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability of yuanhuacine in rat using LC-MS

Yuanhuacine is a Daphne-type diterpene ortho-ester and is one of the main active ingredients of genkwa flos. Anticancer activity of yuanhuacine has been well investigated in various tumor cells and animal models, but information on metabolism and pharmacokinetics is limited. The aims of the present study were to investigate the metabolic and pharmacokinetic profiles of yuanhuacine in rat. The metabolic profile of yuanhuacine was obtained from rat plasma, urine, and feces using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A total of seven metabolites were detected, and the proposed metabolic pathways involved oxidation and glucuronidation. A simple and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of yuanhuacine in rat plasma. The linear range of yuanhuacine was 1-1000 ng/ml (R²  = 0.998). The intra- and inter-precision (coefficient of variation %) of the assay was 3.86-6.18% and 2.65-5.75%, respectively, and the intra- and inter-accuracy (relative error %) was -3.83-4.77% and -3.03-5.11%, respectively. The extraction recovery, matrix effect, stability, and incurred sample reanalysis of yuanhuacine were within acceptable levels. The established method was validated and successfully applied to the preclinical pharmacokinetic study of yuanhuacine. The absolute oral bioavailability of yuanhuacine was calculated as 1.14%, and it reached the maximum plasma concentration of 28.21 ± 2.79 ng/ml in rat plasma at 2 h in the oral dosing group. The apparent volume of distribution of intravenous and intragastric administrations was 26.07 ± 6.45 and 21.83 ± 3.54 L/kg, respectively. The half-life of elimination of yuanhuacine was 9.64 ± 1.53 h in the intravenous dosing group.

Sinapis Semen: A review on phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, analytical methods and pharmacokinetics

Sinapis Semen (SS), the dried mature seed of Sinapis alba L. and Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. et Coss., is one of the traditional Chinese medicinal materials with a wide range of pharmacological effects being used for asthma, cough and many other ailments. SS is also widely used in food agriculture, medicine and other industries in North America and South Asia. More recently, the research on SS has gradually intensified and increased. However, there is no systematic review of SS. In this review, through literature exploration and analysis, the research advance on phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, analytical methods and pharmacokinetics of SS was aggregated initially. Total 144 compounds have been isolated and identified from SS. Among them, glucosinolates and their hydrolysates and volatile oils are the main active ingredients and important chemical classification markers. SS has a wide range of pharmacological effects, especially in cough suppressing, asthma calming, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, cardiovascular protective, inhibiting androgenic effects, anti-tumor, and skin permeation promoting effects. Sinapine and sinapic acid are the main active ingredients of SS for its medicinal effects. However, SS has a strong skin irritation, presumably related to the time of application, the method of processing, and original medicinal plants. This review will provide useful data for the follow-up research and safe and reasonable clinical application of SS.