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Objectives: To explore the postmortem diffusion rule of Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites in poisoned rabbits, and to provide a reference for identifying the antemortem poisoning or postmortem poisoning of Aconitum alkaloids., Methods: Twenty-four rabbits were sacrificed by tracheal clamps. After 1 hour, the rabbits were administered with aconitine LD 50 in decocting aconite root powder by intragastric administration. Then, they were placed supine and stored at 25 ℃. The biological samples from 3 randomly selected rabbits were collected including heart blood, peripheral blood, urine, heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney tissues at 0 h, 4 h, 8 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h after intragastric administration, respectively. Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites in the biological samples were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)., Results: At 4 h after intragastric administration, Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites could be detected in heart blood, peripheral blood and major organs, and the contents of them changed dynamically with the preservation time. The contents of Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites were higher in the spleen, liver and lung, especially in the spleen which was closer to the stomach. The average mass fraction of benzoylmesaconine metabolized in rabbit spleen was the highest at 48 h after intragastric administration. In contrast, the contents of Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites in kidney were all lower. Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites were not detected in urine., Conclusions: Aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites have postmortem diffusion in poisoned rabbits, diffusing from high-content organs (stomach) to other major organs and tissues as well as the heart blood. The main mechanism is the dispersion along the concentration gradient, while urine is not affected by postmortem diffusion, which can be used as the basis for the identification of antemortem and postmortem Aconitum alkaloids poisoning.

A rapid, specific and sensitive ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of four trace alkaloids, including aconitine (AC), hypaconitine (HA), mesaconitine (MA) and yunaconitine (YA) in human urine samples. UPLC-MS-MS system coupled with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source was performed in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The sample preparation was performed with hollow fiber microextraction (HF-LPME) prior to the analysis. The enrichment factors of the four alkaloids were 102 - 301. The separation was applied on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm x 2.1 mm, 1.7 micro m) with a gradient elution of acetonitrile and 10 mmol/L NH4HCO3, as mobile phase. The retention times , were less than 3 min. This method significantly improved the detection sensitivity, and the limits of quantitation were from 0. 01 to 0.1 ng/L. The calibration curves were linear over the ranges of 0.01 - 10 ng/L for AC, MA and YA, 0.1 - 100 ng/L for HA in human urine samples, and the correlation coefficients were 0. 998 1, 0.998 4, 0.999 5 and 0.998 6, respectively. The method was proved to be rapid and sensitive for aconitum alkaloid analysis in urine samples.

The mesaconitine and its major metabolites in the rat urine were identified by liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The rat urine was collected for consecutive 24 hours from the rat following intragastric infusion of mesaconitine, subsequently which were enriched and purified using solid phase extraction. The metabolites of mesaconitine in the rat urine were analyzed by the liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. It is shown that the parent drug mesaconitine and its metabolites were found in the rat urine, such as hypo-mesaconitine glucuronic acid conjugate, 10-hydroxy-mesaconitine, 1-O-demethyl mesaconitine, deoxy-mesaconitine and hypo-mesaconitine. Among the five of metabolites, the hypo-mesaconitine glucuronic acid conjugate (m/z 766) was first discovered as the aconitine in rats phase II metabolites, which revealed a new way of mesaconitine metabolism in rats.

Objective: To investigate the distribution of aconite alkaloids in biological fluids and tissues in the corpse died of acute aconite intoxication and to provide information for sample selection and result evaluation in forensic identification., Methods: The content of aconite alkaloids in biological fluids and tissues were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry., Results: The content of aconite displayed in decending order of urine, bile, gastric content, heart blood, pancreas, heart, intestine, liver, kidney, stomach, lung, gallbladder and spleen, with no aconite detected in the brain., Conclusion: It was indicated that urine, bile and blood are the best specimens for the determination of aconite in body of the acute aconite intoxication.

Aim: To identify the main metabolites of aconitine in the urine of rabbits., Methods: After oral administration of aconitine (5 mg.kg-1), the urine of male rabbits was collected and extracted by solid phase extraction and analyzed by liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry., Results: Aconitine and 4 metabolites were found in the rabbit urine. Their protonated molecular ions at m/z 632, m/z 604, m/z 590, m/z 500 and multistage fragment ions with neutral loss of 60 u, 32 u, 28 u and 18 u were monitored. Their relative concentration were M1 > Aconitine > M4 > M2 > M3., Conclusion: The metabolites M1-M4 were deduced as 16-O-demethylaconitine, benzoylaconine, 16-O-demethylbenzoylaconine and aconine, respectively.