Characterization of in vitro and in vivo metabolites of carnosic acid, a natural antioxidant, by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

Carnosic acid (CA) is a widely employed antioxidant and the main active component in rosemary and sage, but its metabolism remains largely unknown. The present study investigated the metabolism of CA in vitro and in vivo for the first time, using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-trap-MS). A couple of scan modes were adopted in mass spectrometer domain,...