Absorption and Metabolism Characteristics of Rutin in Caco-2 Cells

Abstract EN

The intestinal absorption and metabolism characteristics of the potentially beneficial polyphenol rutin were studied by measuring the intracellular accumulation and transport of rutin into Caco-2 cells with the sensitive and reliable analytical method of HPLC-coupled tandem mass spectrometry.

Rutin and glucuronidated rutin were absorbed differently by the basolateral and apical membranes, and rutin showed differential permeability through the apical and basolateral sides.

Approximately 33% of the rutin was metabolized to glucuronidated rutin, and the intracellular concentration of glucuronidated rutin was much lower than that of parent rutin.

P-glycoprotein and multidrug-resistant proteins 2 and 3 were involved in the transmembrane transport and intracellular accumulation of rutin by Caco-2 cells.

These results suggest that a specific transport system mediates rutin movement across the apical membrane in Caco-2 cells and that metabolic enzymes are important for this process.