Isolation, purification and structure elucidation of cyclosporin A metabolites in rabbit and man

Metabolism of cyclosporin A (CsA) was studied in a model of isolated and perfused rabbit liver, and in man. After diethyl ether extraction, CsA metabolites were separated and successfully purified by a combination of two high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) procedures. A normal-phase HPLC methodology was used to separate most of the metabolites, and further separation and purification were optimized with a reversed-phase HPLC method. 27 different CsA metabolites were separated, collected, and characterized by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. In addition to several metabolites already described (OL-1, OL-17, OL-18 and OL-21), new compounds (of original molecular weights 1236, 1222 and 1174, and numerous structural isomers of previously reported molecular weights) were isolated from rabbit and human bile. Mass spectral analysis of two of these new metabolites strongly suggests vicinal dihydrodiol (mol. wt 1236) and N-demethylated vicinal dihydrodiol (mol. wt 1222) structures. These two new metabolites most probably derive from an epoxide as a preliminary intermediate.