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

Comprehensive Profiling of Mangiferin Metabolites In Vivo and In Vitro Based on the "Drug Metabolite Clusters" Analytical Strategy

Mangiferin, a natural flavonoid compound with multiple biological activities (e.g., anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-tumor), has gained increased research interest in recent years. Nevertheless, the metabolic processing of mangiferin has not been fully investigated. In this study, a rapid and efficient analytical strategy named "Drug Metabolite Clusters" was applied for comprehensive profiling of mangiferin metabolites in rat plasma, urine, and feces samples in vivo following oral administration and liver microsomes in vitro. First, the biological samples were pretreated with methanol, acetonitrile, and solid phase extraction (SPE) for further liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Second, the raw data were acquired using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole exactive orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap HRMS) under the positive and negative full-scan/dd MS² modes. Third, mangiferin and its basic metabolites (norathyriol, trihydroxyxanthone, and dihydroxyxanthone) were selected as mangiferin metabolite cluster centers by referring to the relevant literature. Subsequently, according to the pyrolysis law of mass spectrometry, literature reports, and reference material comparison, especially the diagnostic product ions (DPIs), the candidate metabolites were accurately preliminarily identified, and mangiferin metabolite clusters based on metabolite cluster center changes were formed. As a result, a total of 67 mangiferin metabolites (mangiferin included) were detected, including 29 in plasma, 48 in urine, 12 in feces, and 6 in liver microsomes. Among them, trihydroxyxanthones were first detected in rat urine samples after oral mangiferin. We found that mangiferin mainly underwent deglucosylation, dehydroxylation, methylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and other composite reactions in rats. Herein, we have elucidated the metabolites and metabolic pathways of mangiferin in vivo and in vitro, which provided an essential theoretical basis for further pharmacological studies of mangiferin and a comprehensive research method for the identification of drug metabolites.

Serial five-membered lactone ring ions in the treatment of Alzheimer's diseases-comprehensive profiling of arctigenin metabolites and network analysis

Arctigenin is a phenylpropanoid dibenzylbutyro lactone lignan compound with multiple biological functions. Previous studies have shown that arctigenin have neuroprotective effects in Alzheimer's disease (AD) models both in vivo and in vitro; however, its metabolism in vivo has not been studied. Most traditional analytical methods only partially characterize drug metabolite prototypes, so there is an urgent need for a research strategy that can fully characterize drug metabolites. In the present study, ions fishing with a serial five-membered lactone ring as a fishhook strategy based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS) was utilised to characterise the metabolism of arctigenin, and the establishment of this strategy also solved the challenge of creating a comprehensive metabolic profile of neolignan. Based on the proposed strategy, a total of 105 metabolites were detected and characterised, 76 metabolites of which were found in rats and 49 metabolites in liver microsomes. These metabolites were postulated to be produced through oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, and complex reactions. Subsequently, network pharmacology was utilized to elucidate the mechanism of arctigenin and its main metabolites against Alzheimer's disease, screening 381 potential targets and 20 major signaling pathways. The study on the comprehensive metabolism of arctigenin provides a holistic metabolic profile, which will help to better understand the mechanism of arctigenin in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and also provide a basis for the safe administration of arctigenin.

Metabolites Identification and Mechanism Prediction of Neobavaisoflavone In Vitro and In Vivo of Rats through UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS Integrated Network Pharmacology

Neobavaisoflavone is an important isoflavone component isolated from Psoraleae Fructus. It is used extensively worldwide because of its antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and anti-osteoporotic activities. However, there is no systematic and comprehensive research on the metabolism of neobavaisoflavone in vivo and in vitro. The study aimed to analyze the metabolic characteristics and mechanism of neobavaisoflavone for the first time. Firstly, biological samples were pretreated by the solid-phase extraction (SPE) method, methanol precipitation, and acetonitrile precipitation. Secondly, the samples were analyzed on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS. Thirdly, metabolites were tentatively identified based on retention time, parallel reaction monitoring strategy, diagnostic product ions, and neutral loss fragments. A total of 72 metabolites of neobavaisoflavone were tentatively identified, including 28 in plasma, 43 in urine, 18 in feces, six in the liver, and four in the liver microsome. The results suggested that neobavaisoflavone mainly underwent glucuronidation, sulfation, hydroxylation, methylation, cyclization, hydration, and their composite reactions in vivo and in vitro. In addition, nine active components with high bioavailability and 191 corresponding targets were predicted by the Swiss Drug Design database. The 1806 items of GO and 183 KEGG signaling pathways were enriched. These results showed that metabolites expanded the potential effects of neobavaisoflavone. The present study would provide the scientific basis for the further exploitation and application of neobavaisoflavone.

Identification and mechanism prediction of mulberroside A metabolites in vivo and in vitro of rats using an integrated strategy of UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS and network pharmacology

Mulberroside A is a polyhydroxylated stilbene active component of Morus alba L. Studies have shown that it has antitussive, antiasthmatic, tyrosinase and antioxidation activities. However, little is known about the metabolism of it in vitro and in vivo. In our study, an integrated strategy on the basis of UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS and network pharmacology was established to comprehensively research the metabolic characteristic of mulberroside A for the first time. Plasma, urine, feces and liver tissues of rats in the blank group and drug group were collected after intragastric administration of mulberroside A at a dose of 150 mg/kg, and rat liver microsomes were cultured for in vitro metabolism experiment. The biological samples were processed by different methods and analyzed in positive and negative ion modes using UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS. A total of 72 metabolites were finally identified based on the accurate molecular mass, retention time, MS/MS spectra and related literatures combined with the Compound Discoverer 3.1. The metabolic pathways were mainly hydrolysis, glucuronidation, hydrogenation, sulfation, hydroxylation, methylation and their composite reactions. In addition, a network pharmacology method was used to predict the mechanism of action of mulberroside A and its metabolites. In the end, 7 metabolites with high gastrointestinal absorption and drug-likeness and 167 targets were screened by Swiss ADME and Swiss Target Prediction. 1702 items of GO analysis and 158 related signaling pathways of KEGG were enriched using Metascape. This study established a novel integrated strategy based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Plus Orbitrap MS and network pharmacology, which could systematically analyze the metabolism behavior of mulberroside A in vivo and in vitro of rats and provide basis for the further research of mulberroside A.

Study of the metabolism of myricetin in rat urine, plasma and feces by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography

Myricetin is a common natural flavonoid compound with various pharmacological activities. However, the metabolite characterization of this substance remains inadequate. In this study, a simple and rapid system strategy based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry combining parallel reaction monitoring mode was established to screen and identify myricetin metabolites in rat urine, plasma and feces after oral administration. A total of 38 metabolites were fully or partially characterized based on their accurate mass, characteristic fragment ions, retention times, corresponding cLogP values, etc. These metabolites were presumed to be generated through glucuronidation, glucosylation, sulfation, dihydroxylation, acetylation, hydrogenation, hydroxylation and their composite reactions. In addition, the characteristic fragmentation pathways of flavonoids with more metabolites were summarized for the subsequent metabolite identification. The study provides an overall metabolic profile of myricetin, which would be of great help in predicting the in vivo pharmacokinetic profiles and understanding the action mechanism of this active ingredient.