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. 2012 Jan 4;17(1):420-32.
doi: 10.3390/molecules17010420.

Metabolite profiling of four major flavonoids of Herba Epimedii in zebrafish

Yingjie Wei  1 , Ping Li, Hongwei Fan, E Sun, Changmei Wang, Luan Shu, Wei Liu, Xiaolu Xue, Qian Qian, Xiaobin Jia
Affiliations

Metabolite profiling of four major flavonoids of Herba Epimedii in zebrafish

Yingjie Wei et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The zebrafish model organism was applied first in a metabolic study of icariin, baohuoside I, epimedin A and epimedin C, which are flavonoids in Herba Epimedii. Metabolites of these compounds in zebrafish after exposure for 24 h were identified by HPLC-ESI-MS, whereby the separation was performed with a Zorbax C-18 column using a gradient elution of 0.05% formic acid acetonitrile-0.05% formic acid water. The quasi-molecular ions of compounds were detected in simultaneous negative and positive ionization modes. Metabolic products of icariin and epimedin C via cleavage of glucose residue instead of rhamnose residues were found, which coincided with the results using regular metabolic analysis methods. In addition, the zebrafish model was used to predict the metabolism of the trace component epimedin A, whose metabolic mechanisms haven't been clearly elucidated with the current metabolism model. The metabolic pathway of epimedin A in zebrafish was similar to those of its homologue icariin and epimedin C. Our study demonstrated that the zebrafish model can successfully imitate the current models in elucidating metabolic pathways of model flavonoids, which has advantages of lower cost, far less amount of compound needed, easy set up and high performance. This novel model can also be applied in quickly predicting the metabolism of Chinese herb components, especially trace compounds.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structures of icariin, baohuoside I, epimedin A and epimedin C in Herba Epimedii in this study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mass spectrometry total ion current chromatograph for the icariin groups after 24 h (negative mode). A: icariin solution; B: icariin zebrafish solution; C: blank zebrafish group solution; D: zebrafish of icariin zebrafish group; E: zebrafish of blank zebrafish group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mass spectrometry total ion current chromatograph for the baohuoside I groups at 24 h (negative mode). A: baohuoside I solution; B: baohuoside I zebrafish solution; C: blank zebrafish solution; D: zebrafish of baohuoside I zebrafish; E: zebrafish of blank zebrafish.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mass spectrometry total ion current chromatograph for the epimedin C groups after 24 h (negative mode). A: epimedin C solution; B: epimedin C zebrafish solution; C: blank zebrafish group solution; D: zebrafish of epimedin C zebrafish group; E: zebrafish of blank zebrafish group.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mass spectrometry total ion current chromatograph for the epimedin A groups after 24 h (negative mode). A: epimedin A solution; B: epimedin A zebrafish group solution; C: blank zebrafish group solution; D: zebrafish of epimedin A zebrafish group; E: zebrafish of the blank zebrafish group.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Representative MS spectra of icariin, baohuoside I, epimedin A, epimedin C and their transformative components by zebrafish.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The possible metabolic pathways of icariin, epimedin A and epimedin C by zebrafish.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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