Abstract

In the dog, the major excretory metabolite of the antidepressant sertraline was characterized as sertraline carbamoyl-O-glucuronide. The intact conjugate was isolated from bile by HPLC. The metabolite was labile to beta-glucuronidase and produced sertraline as the single hydrolytic product, based on HPLC and GC-MS analyses. By fast atom bombardment MS analysis, [M+H]+ and [M+Na]+ ions at m/z 526 and 548 were observed, as were the proton and sodium adducts of the aglycone (m/z 350 and 372) due to cleavage of the glycosidic bond and elimination of the glucuronic acid moiety (176 amu). The observed mass of the aglycone was 44 amu greater than sertraline, indicating that a carbamic acid of this secondary amine was conjugated with glucuronic acid. These data suggest that sertraline in solution reversibly associates with CO2 before formation of sertraline carbamoyl-O-glucuronide. This novel amine glucuronide was also identified in human plasma after the oral administration of sertraline to each of seven subjects. The glucuronide was stable in plasma at both acidic and basic pH.