title: Identification of gut-derived metabolites of maslinic acid, a bioactive compound from Olea europaea L.
abstract: Maslinic acid has been described to exert a chemopreventive activity in colon cancer. Hereby, we determined maslinic acid and its metabolites in the rat intestine previous oral administration as a first step in elucidating whether this triterpene might be used as a nutraceutical.
  
  
  
  Maslinic acid was orally administered at 1, 2, and 5 mg/kg to male Sprague-Dawley for 2 days. At 24 h after the last administration, the content of the duodenum and jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon was collected and extracted with methanol 80% prior to LC-APCI-MS analysis. The developed method was validated providing suitable sensitivity (LOQ of 5 nM), good recovery (97.8 ± 3.6%), linear correlation, and appropriate precision (< 9%). Maslinic acid was detected in all the segments with higher concentrations in the distal part of the intestine. LC-APCI-LTQ-ORBITRAP-MS allowed the identification of 11 gut-derived metabolites that were formed by mono-, dihydroxylation, and dehydrogenation reactions.
  
  
  
  Maslinic acid undergoes phase I reactions resulting in a majority of monohydroxylated metabolites without the presence of phase II derivatives. The high concentration of maslinic acid achieved in the intestine suggests that it could exert a beneficial effect in the prevention of colon cancer.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA-UB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Glòria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lozano-Mena
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA-UB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-González
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva s/n, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parra
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA-UB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain. mejuan@ub.edu.
authors.forename: M Emília
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Juan
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Fisiologia and Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA-UB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Joana M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Planas
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D007422:Intestines / Q000187:drug effects; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D031658:Olea / Q000737:chemistry*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D009828:Oleanolic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D014315:Triterpenes; C412811:maslinic acid; D009828:Oleanolic Acid
keywords: Intestinal metabolism; Maslinic acid; Olives; Phase I metabolites; Rat