Identification of hyperoside metabolites in rat using ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In this paper, ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF) with automated data analysis software (Metabolynx?) were applied for fast analysis of hyperoside metabolites in rat after intravenous administration. MS(E) was used for simultaneous acquisition of precursor ion information and fragment ion data at high and low collision energy in one analytical run, which facilitated the fast structural characterization of 12 metabolites in rat plasma, urine and bile. The results indicated that methylation, sulfation and glucuronidation were the major metabolic pathways of hyperoside in vivo, and among them, 3'-O-methyl-hyperoside was confirmed by matching its fragmentation patterns with standard compound. The present study provided important information about the metabolism of hyperoside which will be helpful for fully understanding the mechanism of this compound's action. Furthermore, this work demonstrated the potential of the UPLC/QTOFMS approach using Metabolynx for fast and automated identification of metabolites of natural product.