Identification of metabolites of Ginkgolide B in vivo and in vitro using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Ginkgolide B is a dietary diterpene with multiple pharmacological activities. However, current research on ginkgolide B is not comprehensive. The current study analyzed the metabolic profile of ginkgolide B in vivo and in vitro using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. To detect and identify the different metabolites in ginkgolide B, a novel data processing method was used as an assistant tool. A total of 53 different metabolites of ginkgolide B (38 phase I metabolites and 15 phase II metabolites) were detected relative to blank samples. The biotransformation route of ginkgolide B was identified as oxidation, dehydroxylation, hydrogenation, decarbonylation, demethylation, sulfate conjugation, glucose conjugation, methylation, and acetylation. The current study demonstrated a method for rapidly detecting and identifying metabolites and provided useful information to further characterize the pharmacology and mechanism of ginkgolide B. A method for the analysis of other diterpene metabolic components in vivo and in vitro was also established.