A Complete Study of Farrerol Metabolites Produced In Vivo and In Vitro

• Main Authors: Jintuo Yin, Yinling Ma, Caijuan Liang, Hairong Wang, Yupeng Sun, Lantong Zhang, Qingzhong Jia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-09-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: farrerol; UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS; multiple data post-processing techniques; metabolism; in vivo; in vitro
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/19/3470

Although farrerol, a characteristically bioactive constituent of <i>Rhododendron dauricum</i> L., exhibits extensive biological and pharmacological activities (e.g., anti-oxidant, anti-immunogenic, and anti-angiogenic) as well as a high drug development potential, its metabolism remains underexplored. Herein, we employed ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with multiple data post-processing techniques to rapidly identify farrerol metabolites produced in vivo (in rat blood, bile, urine and feces) and in vitro (in rat liver microsomes). As a result, 42 in vivo metabolites and 15 in vitro metabolites were detected, and farrerol shown to mainly undergo oxidation, reduction, (de)methylation, glucose conjugation, glucuronide conjugation, sulfate conjugation, <i>N</i>-acetylation and <i>N</i>-acetylcysteine conjugation. Thus, this work elaborates the metabolic pathways of farrerol and reveals the potential pharmacodynamics forms of farrerol.