UPLC/Q-TOF-MS for Metabolic Profiles of Ginger and Its Representative Pungent Components in Rats

Zhihong Yao, College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China (yaozhihong_jnu@163.com)

Abstract:

Ginger, the dried rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ZO), has been widely used throughout the world for centuries as a popular food homologous traditional medicine. However, its metabolic behaviors remain unclear, which entails an obstacle to further understanding of its functional components and mechanism. In this study, a four-step approach based on UPLC-Q/TOF-MS was applied to systemically reveal the metabolic profiles of ZO in vivo (Figure. 1). The results included the characterization of 92 components of ZO (57 pungent phytochemicals, 27 diarylheptanoids, and 8 others) based on the summarized fragmentation patterns and self-building chemical database. Furthermore, four abundant and characteristic pungent compounds in ZO with different structural types, including [6]-gingerol, [6]-shogaol, [6]-dehydrogingerdione and [10]-gingerol, were selected as representative components, based on the results of a preliminary analysis of ZO-related xenobiotics in vivo. Their metabolic pathways were then characterized, respectively, to explore the typical metabolic pathways of ZO. Consequently, 141 ginger-related xenobiotics were characterized, following the metabolic spots of the pungent phytochemicals were summarized (Figure. 2). These findings indicated that the in vivo effective components of ginger were mainly derived from [6]-gingerol and [6]-shogaol (nearly 60% of the xenobiotics were derived from [6]-gingerol and [6]-shogaol). Meanwhile, hydrogenation, demethylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and thiolation were their major metabolic reactions. These results expand our knowledge about the metabolism of ginger, which will be important for discovering its in vivo functional components and the further mechanism research.

Acknowledgements:

This research was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 81630097) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 81774219)

 

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Abstract Reference & Short Personal Biography of Presenting Author

Dr. Zhihong Yao is a full professor of College of Pharmacy, Jinan University at Guangzhou, China. Prof. Yao’s research interests focus on the research of drug metabolism & pharmacokinetics, quality control method of Traditional Chinese Medicines and their products (Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus, Zingiber Officinale, Xianling Gubao Capsule, Gualou Xiebai Banxia Decoction, Danlou Tablet, etc)  around the elucidation of the bioactive constituents and mechanism. The projects she had hosted mainly include 2 projects of Natural Science Foundation of China and 4 Provincial projects. In the past five years, as the first author or correspondent author, Prof. Yao has published 24 peer-reviewed papers in J Agric Food Chem, J Ethnopharmacol, Food & Funct, J Pharm Biomed Anal, Food Chem and other well-known international academic journals.