Metabolites study on 5-O-methylvisammioside in vivo and in vitro by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

5-O-Methylvisammioside is one of major chromones of Radix Saposhnikoviae possessing definite pharmacological activities, but there are few reports with respect to the metabolism of 5-O-methylvisammioside. In this work, metabolites in vivo were explored in male Sprague-Dawley rats and in vitro investigated on rat intestinal bacteria incubation model and were identified by using ultra high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. An online data acquisition method based on a multiple mass defect filter and dynamic background subtraction was developed to trace all probable metabolites. As a result, 26 metabolites in vivo (including 18, 15, 10, and 10 in rat urine, faece, bile, and blood) and 7 metabolites in vitro were characterized, respectively. Additionally, the main metabolic pathways in vivo and in vitro, including deglycosylation, deglycosylation + demethylation, deglycosylation + oxidation, N-acetylation, and sulfate conjugation, were summarized by calculating the relative content of each metabolite. The obtained results significantly enriched our knowledge about 5-O-methylvisammioside metabolism and will lead to a better understanding of its safety and efficacy.