A comprehensive study of eriocitrin metabolism <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro</i> based on an efficient UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS strategy

Abstract

Eriocitrin, a main flavonoid in lemons, possesses strong antioxidant, lipid-lowering and anticancer activities and has long been used in food, beverages and wine. However, its metabolism <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro</i> is still unclear. In this study, an efficient strategy was developed to detect and identify metabolites of eriocitrin by using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) based on online data acquisition and multiple data processing techniques. A total of 32 metabolites <i>in vivo</i> and 27 metabolites <i>in vitro</i> were obtained based on the above method. Furthermore, the main metabolic pathways of eriocitrin included reduction, hydrogenation, <i>N</i>-acetylation, ketone formation, oxidation, methylation, sulfate conjugation, glutamine conjugation, glycine conjugation, desaturation and demethylation to carboxylic acid. This study will lay a foundation for further studies on the metabolic mechanisms of eriocitrin.