Identification of prototype compounds and their metabolites in rats? serum from Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS

Objective: As a classic prescription in traditional Chinese medicine, Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction (XFZYD) has been widely used in the clinical treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In order to unveil the potentially effective compounds, a rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) method was established to identify prototype compounds and their metabolites from XFZYD in rats' serum.Methods: The serum from rats after intragastric administration of XFZYD aqueous extract was analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method. The prototype compounds and their metabolites were identified by compar-ison with the reference standards and tentatively characterized by comprehensively analyzing the reten-tion time, MS data, characteristic MS fragmentation pattern and retrieving literatures.Results: A total of 175 compounds (24 prototype compounds and 151 metabolites) were identified and tentatively characterized. The metabolic pathways of prototype compounds in vivo were also summa-rized, including glucuronidation, hydrolyzation, sulfation, demethylation, and hydroxylation, and so on.Conclusion: In this study, a UPLC-Q-TOF/MS technique was developed to analyze prototype compounds and their metabolites from XFZYD in serum, which would provide the evidence for further studying the effective compounds of XFZYD.(c) 2022 Tianjin Press of Chinese Herbal Medicines. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).