title: Identification in Rat Plasma and Urine by Linear Trap Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry of the Metabolites of Maslinic Acid, a Triterpene from Olives.
abstract: Maslinic acid is a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid widely distributed in edible and medicinal plants with health-promoting activities. The identification and quantification of its metabolites is a requirement for a better understanding of the biological effects of this triterpene. Therefore, maslinic acid was orally administered to Sprague-Dawley rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg of body weight. Blood and urine were withdrawn at 45 min. Samples were extracted with ethyl acetate prior to liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-linear trap quadrupole-Orbitrap (LC-APCI-LTQ-Orbitrap) analysis. Screening of plasma yielded four monohydroxylated derivatives (M1-M4), one monohydroxylated and dehydrogenated metabolite (M5), and two dihydroxylated and dehydrogenated compounds (M6 and M7). In urine, M1, M4, M5, and M6 were detected. Quantification by LC-APCI-mass spectrometry (MS) revealed maslinic acid as the prevalent compound in both plasma (81.8%) and urine (73.9%), which indicates that metabolism is low and mainly attributable to phase I reactions.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB) , Avinguda Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-González
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB) , Avinguda Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Glòria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lozano-Mena
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada , 18071 Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parra
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB) , Avinguda Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: M Emília
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Juan
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB) , Avinguda Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Joana M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Planas
keywords: LC−MS; maslinic acid; metabolism; pentacyclic triterpenes; rat plasma