RESUMO
Objective: To understand the in vivo metabolic fate of 1,2,3,4,6-Penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose (PGG) naturally existed in many medicinal herbs and food plants such as Rhus chinensis, Paeonia suffruticosa, Paeonia lactiflora and Mango. Methods: The metabolites of PGG in rat biofluids were characterized using high performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF-MS). Results: Ten metabolites in urine, five metabolites in feces and two metabolites in plasma, were observed when the rats were administrated with a single intravenous injection of PGG (20 mg/kg). Conclusion: PGG is firstly metabolized to gallic acid, then gallic acid undergoes sulfation, glucuronidation and methylation by rat liver. The determination of metabolites and the proposed metabolic pathway of PGG in vivo will be benefit to gain deeper insights into its pharmacological activities.