RESUMEN
ObjectiveBased on ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry（UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE） technique， we identified qualitatively the metabolites of aristolochic acid（AAs） in rat in order to analyze the metabolic differences between water extract of Aristolochiae fructus（AFE） and Aristolochic acid Ⅰ（AAⅠ）. MethodSD rats were selected and administered AFE（110 g·kg-1·d-1） or AAⅠ（5 mg·kg-1·d-1） by oral for 5 days， respectively. Serum， urine and feces were collected after administration. Through sample pretreatment， ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column（2.1 mm×100 mm， 1.7 μm） was used with the mobile phase of 0.01% formic acid methanol（A）-0.01% formic acid water（B， containing 5 mmol·L-1 ammonium acetate） for gradient elution（0-1 min， 10%B； 1-7 min， 10%-75%B； 7-7.2 min， 75%-95%B； 7.2-10.2 min， 95%B； 10.2-10.3 min， 95%-10%B； 10.3-12 min， 10%B） at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min-1. Positive ion mode of electrospray ionization（ESI+） was performed in the scanning range of m/z 100-1 200. In combination with UNIFI 1.9.4.053 system， the Pathway-MSE was used to qualitatively analyze and identify the AAs prototype and related metabolites in biological samples（serum， urine and feces）， and to compare the similarities and differences of metabolites in rats in the subacute toxicity test between AFE group and AAⅠ group. ResultCompared with AAⅠ group， 6， 10， 13 common metabolites and 14， 20， 30 unique metabolites were identified in biological samples（serum， urine and feces） of AFE group， respectively. Moreover， the main AAs components always followed the metabolic processes of demethylation， nitrate reduction and conjugation. Compared with common metabolites in AAⅠ group， prototype components of AAⅠ in serum and most metabolic derivatives of AAⅠ［AAⅠa， aristolochic lactam Ⅰ（ALⅠ）a， 7-OHALⅠ and its conjugated derivatives］ in biological samples were significantly increased in AFE group（P<0.05， P<0.01）， except that the metabolic amount of ALⅠ in feces of AFE group was remarkably lowed than that of AAⅠ group（P<0.01）. In addition， a variety of special ALⅠ efflux derivatives were also identified in the urine and feces of the AFE group. ConclusionAlthough major AAs components in AFE all show similar metabolic rules as AAⅠ components in vivo， the coexistence of multiple AAs components in Aristolochiae Fructus may affect the metabolism of AAⅠ， and achieve the attenuating effect by increasing the metabolic effection of AAⅠ and ALⅠ.