Metabolism of paeoniflorin and related compounds by human intestinal bacteria.

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Abstract
In the course of studies on the metabolism of active compounds of crude drugs by intestinal bacteria, paeoniflorin, oxypaeoniflorin, and benzoylpaeoniflorin isolated from the roots of Paeonia albiflora PALLAS (Paeoniaceae) were incubated with a human fecal suspension. Paeoniflorin, as well as oxypaeoniflorin and benzoylpaeoniflorin, was converted to three metabolites (paenimetabolines I, II and III) by intestinal bacteria. The structure of the major metabolite (paenimetaboline I) was elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Through screening of various strains of intestinal bacteria from human feces, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius was shown to have potent ability to transform paeoniflorin to paeonimetaboline I.