THE METABOLIC TRANSFORMATION OF (-)-SECURININE

AIMTo study the in vitro and in vivo metabolism of (-)-securinine. METHODSThe metabolic transformation of (-)-securinine was studied by using phenobarbital-induced rat liver microsomal incubate containing the NADPH-generating system in vitro and the constitution of the system was optimized. A reversed phase HPLC method was established to analyze the parent drug and its metabolites. The major metabolites were isolated and purified by liquid-liquid extraction, preparative TLC and HPLC, and their structures were elucidated as 6-hydroxyl securinine, 6-carbonyl securinine, 5β-hydroxyl securinine and 5α-hydroxyl securinine by ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR and MS spectral analysis. An HPLC method was developed to analyze securinine and its metabolites in biofluids (bile, urine) of rat. The bile, urine and their enzymatic hydrolyzed samples of the rat ip administrated with (-)-securinine were determined by using this method. RESULTSFour main metabolites of (-)-securinine in rat hepatic microsome incubation were obtained and their structures were elucidated. Metabolites from in vitro study were confirmed in biofluids (bile, urine) which were collected from rats given securinine ip. It was suggested that 6-hydroxyl securinine was excreted in conjugated form as well by analyzing enzymatic hydrolyzed bile. CONCLUSIONThe main metabolic pathway of (-)-securinine in vitro and in vivo is basically elucidated.