Metabolism study of Myricetin in rat urine, plasma and feces using UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer.

Myricetin is a common natural flavonoid compound with various pharmacological activities. However, the metabolite characterization of this substance is still inadequate. In this study, a simple and rapid system strategy based on UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry combining parallel reaction monitoring mode was established to screen and identify myricetin metabolites in rat urine, plasma and faeces after oral administration. A total of 38 metabolites were fully or partially characterised based on their accurate mass, characteristic fragment ions, retention times, corresponding Clog P values, and so on. These metabolites were presumed to generate through glucuronidation, glucosylation, sulfation, dihydroxylation, acetylation, hydrogenation, hydroxylation and their composite reactions. In addition, the characteristic fragmentation pathways of flavonoids with more metabolites were summarised for the subsequent metabolite identification. The current study provided an overall metabolic profile of myricetin, which would be of great help in predicting the in vivo pharmacokinetic profiles and understanding the action mechanism of this active ingredient.