Characterization of in vitro metabolites of three tetrahydroprotoberberine alkaloids in rat liver S9 by high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

This was the first investigation of the in vitro metabolism of THB, THCP and THCB in rat liver S9 by using a sensitive and accurate HPLC/QqTOF-MS method. The tentatively proposed metabolic pathways of the three alkaloids will provide a basis for further studies of the in vivo metabolism of the three compounds in animals and humans.