Metabolism Profile of Mequindox in Sea Cucumbers In Vivo Using LC-HRMS
Xin Mao,
Xiaozhen Zhou,
Jun He,
Gongzhen Liu,
Huihui Liu,
Han Zhao,
Pengjie Luo,
Yongning Wu,
Yanshen Li
Affiliations
Xin Mao
Department of Marine Product Quality and Safety Inspection Key Laboratory, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
Xiaozhen Zhou
Department of Marine Product Quality and Safety Inspection Key Laboratory, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
Jun He
Department of Marine Product Quality and Safety Inspection Key Laboratory, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
Gongzhen Liu
College of Agriculture and Forestry, Linyi University, Linyi 276000, China
Huihui Liu
Shandong Marine Resource and Environment Research Institute, Yantai 264006, China
Han Zhao
Department of Marine Product Quality and Safety Inspection Key Laboratory, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
Pengjie Luo
NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, Chinese Academy of Medical Science Research Unit (2019RU014), China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing 100017, China
Yongning Wu
NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, Chinese Academy of Medical Science Research Unit (2019RU014), China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing 100017, China
Yanshen Li
Department of Marine Product Quality and Safety Inspection Key Laboratory, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
In this work, the metabolism behavior of mequindox (MEQ) in sea cucumber in vivo was investigated using LC-HRMS. In total, nine metabolites were detected and identified as well as the precursor in sea cucumber tissues. The metabolic pathways of MEQ in sea cucumber mainly include hydrogenation reduction, deoxidation, carboxylation, deacetylation, and combinations thereof. The most predominant metabolites of MEQ in sea cucumber are 2-iso-BDMEQ and 2-iso-1-DMEQ, with deoxidation and carbonyl reduction as major metabolic pathways. In particular, this work first reported 3-methyl-2-quinoxalinecarboxylic acid (MQCA) as a metabolite of MEQ, and carboxylation is a major metabolic pathway of MEQ in sea cucumber. This work revealed that the metabolism of MEQ in marine animals is different from that in land animals. The metabolism results in this work could facilitate the accurate risk assessment of MEQ in sea cucumber and related marine foods.