Systematic screening and characterization of multiple constituents in Guizhi Fuling capsule and metabolic profiling of bioactive components in rats using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Guizhi Fuling capsule (GFC), a prestigious traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) prescription, is efficiently used to treat primary dysmenorrhea in the clinical practice. It's significant to explore the metabolic fate of multiple components in vivo which are responsible for the pharmacological effects but not fully investigated. A rapid and high-throughput method using ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS) was established for systematic investigation on GFC, including GFC chemical compositions, and their absorption and metabolism in rat plasma, urine, uterus and brain after oral administration of GFC. A total of 102 nonvolatile GFC phytochemistry components were identified based on the accurately measured mass value, fragmentation pattern and retention behavior. Compared to the previous GFC study, additional 47 different GFC components were detected. Furthermore 21, 9, 4 and 3 prototype compounds were separately observed in plasma, urine, uterus and brain samples with the support of in vitro GFC study. While 29, 33, 10 and 8 metabolites were also identified with the assistance of the MetaboLynx tool in these biological samples. The result indicated that the developed method was suitable for the components identification even in the complex matrix. The chemical and metabolic profiling of GFC provided an abundant substance foundation for the extensive GFC research, especially for the pharmacodynamic mechanisms research.