Urinary metabolomic characterization of meclofenoxate based on UHPLC-Q exactive HF orbitrap MS technology

To investigate the characteristics of changes in human urinary metabolites of meclofenoxate using metabolomics technology based on an UHPLC-Q Exactive HF Orbitrap mass spectrometer (UHPLC-HRMS) and to search for biomarkers related to drug effects, seventeen healthy college students were selected as experimental subjects, and urine samples were collected from the subjects before and after taking the drug, respectively. The data were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis after format conversion, peak detection, and normalization, and screening of differential metabolites and database search were performed to identify potential biomarkers and conduct metabolic pathway analysis. Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) demonstrated significant intergroup differences in the metabolites of urine samples before and after the administration of meclofenoxate and further screened for eight major potential biomarkers (VIP > 1 and P < 0.01). The main metabolic pathways involved histidine metabolism, β-alanine metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, etc. The results of the study can help to provide a theoretical basis for the application and diagnosis of meclofenoxate.