Systematic Analysis of Main Constituents in Rat Biological Samples after Oral Administration of the Methanol Extract of Fructus Aurantii by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection (DAD) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI/MS/MS) was used to analyze the main components in the methanol extract of Fructus Aurantii (FA) and the metabolites in rat biological samples after oral administration of the methanol extract of FA. There were 31 constituents identified in the extract of FA including 2 alkaloids, 1 coumarin, 10 flavonoid glycosides and 18 ploymethoxylated flavones. According to the UV spectrum and MS fragment character of main components in the methanol extract of FA, 18 parent constituents and 11 metabolites were tentatively identified in rat biological samples. Three groups of components in biological samples detected included flavonoid glycosides, their glucuronides and ploymethoxylated flavones. It was interested that flavonoid glycosides, their glucuronides and ploymethoxylated flavones can be investigated in rat plasma and urine, while in rat feces samples only flavonoid glycosides were detected. Triglycosyl, naringenin, neoeriocitrin, neoeriocitrin narirutin and hesperidin were the main components in rat feces which were found either in the plasma or in urine samples. However, naringin and neohesperidin were the main flavonoid glycosides which absorbed after oral administration. Except flavonoid glycosides and their glucuronides, ploymethoxylated flavones also the constituents absorbed because it was investigated mainly in rat plasma and urine but not in feces samples. The identification and elucidation of parent and metabolism components analyzed in biological samples provided the data for further pharmacological and clinical research on FA.