UPLC–QTOF/MS-based screening and identification of the constituents and their metabolites in rat plasma and urine after oral administration of Glechoma longituba extract

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences Vol. 878; no. 28; pp. 2741 - 2750
• Main Authors: Ni, Shumao, Qian, Dawei, Duan, Jin-ao, Guo, Jianming, Shang, Er-xin, Shu, Yan, Xue, Caifu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.10.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Analysis; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical materials; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Constituents; Drugs; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General pharmacology; Glechoma longituba; Lamiaceae - chemistry; MDF; Medical sciences; Metabolism; Metabolite; Metabolites; MS E; Parents; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Plant Extracts - administration & dosage; Plant Extracts - analysis; Plant Extracts - pharmacokinetics; Rats; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization - methods; Surgical implants; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; UPLC–QTOF/MS; Asia; China; Glechoma longituba; UPLC–QTOF/MS; Metabolite; MDF; MS E; Ultra performance liquid chromatography; Biological fluid; Rat; UPLC-QTOF/MS; Extract; Quadrupole spectrometer; Medicinal plant; Blood plasma; Folk medicine; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Qualitative analysis; Urine; Coupled method; Pharmacognosy; MS; Rodentia; Oral administration; Screening; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Labiatae; Time of flight method; Animal; Plant origin; Spermatophyta; Mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 1570-0232; 1873-376X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2010.08.014

Glechoma longituba is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating various diseases; however, the in vivo integrated metabolism of its multiple bioactive components remains unknown. In this paper, ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) and the MetaboLynx™ software combined with mass defect filtering (MDF) together provide unique high throughput capabilities for drug metabolism study, with excellent MS mass accuracy and enhanced MS E data acquisition. This rapid automated analysis method was successfully applied for screening and identification of the constituents absorbed and metabolized studies of G. longituba extract after oral administration to rats. The results showed that 21 parent components of G. longituba extract were absorbed into the blood circulation of the rats and a total of 80 metabolites of 9 parent compounds were tentatively detected in vivo by their MS spectra obtained at low or high collision energy scan with the comparison of the authentic standards and literature data. The developed method was simple and reliable, revealing that it could be used to rapid screen and identify the structures of active components responsible for pharmacological effects of G. longituba and to better clarify its action mechanism. This work suggests that the integrative metabolism approach makes a useful template for drug metabolism research of TCM.