(24R)-24,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 [24,25(OH)2D3] is one of the major metabolites of vitamin D3, which causes a marked increase in bone volume 1 and mechanical strength 2 in animals without hypercalcemia at pharmacological doses ( Fig. 1). Based on these criteria, the metabolite is expected to be a new antiosteoporosis medicine and much interest is focused on the metabolism of 24,25(OH)2D3. 24,25(OH)2D3 is reported to be oxidized on its side chain at the C-23 or 24 position by vitamin D 24-hydroxylase to give metabolites such as (23S)-23, 25-dihydroxy-24-oxovitamin D3. 3 In previous studies, we found that in rats dosed with 24,25(OH)D3 per os, a large amount of 3-epi-24,25(OH)2D3 24-glucuronide (24G) was excreted into the bile together with 24,25(OH) 2D3-3G, -24G and -3-sulfate. 4,5 The epimerization of the 3-hydroxy group was also observed in the in vitro 6,7 and in vivo 8 metabolism of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3]. These findings indicate that the C-3 epimerization pathway plays an important role as does the side-chain oxidation in the vitamin D metabolism. However, the existence of the free form of the 3-epimer of 24,25(OH)2D3 in biological fluids and the epimerization mechanism have not been clarified. Studies on the 3-epi-metabolites are important to develop new vitamin D medicines. For example, if 3-epi-24,25(OH)2D3 is not only excreted into the bile as a glucuronide but also circulates in the blood, some contribution of the 3-epi-form to the bone formation caused by the administration of 24,25(OH)2D3 must be considered.In the present paper, we initially identified 3-epi-24,25(OH)2D3 in the blood of rats dosed with 24,25(OH)2D3 using inclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography (LC)/mass spectrometry (MS) and gas chromatography (GC)/MS. Second, in vitro experiments were performed to investigate the C-3 epimerization mechanism of 24,25(OH)2D3 using the deuterium-labeled material. . 4-Phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (PTAD) was synthesized from 4-phenylurazole (Nacalai Tesque, Kyoto, Japan) and purified by sublimation. 9 Isolute C18 (EC) cartridges (500 mg; International Sorbent Tech., Ltd., Hengoed, UK) were obtained from Uniflex (Tokyo). Heptakis-(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (Me-β-CD) and γ -CD were donated by Kao Co. (Tokyo) and Nihon Shokuhin Kako Co. (Tokyo), respectively. All other reagents and materials were of analytical grade.
Experimental
Materials and reagents
HPLC, LC/MS and GC/MSHPLC was performed using a Hitachi L-7110 chromatograph (Tokyo) equipped with a Shimadzu SPD-10A UV (265 nm) detector (Kyoto). LC/MS was performed using a Finnigan MAT LCQ (San Jose, CA, USA) connected to a JASCO PU-980 (Tokyo) chromatograph, and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) was used in the positive-ion mode. The heated capillary temperature was set at 150˚C and 225˚C for analyses of the intact vitamin D compounds and the PTADadducts, respectively. The sheath gas flow rate was set at 80 units with a vaporizer temperature of 350˚C. The source current, th...