C. Baek et al., IDENTIFICATION OF SELECTED METABOLITES OF SKATOLE IN PLASMA AND URINEFROM PIGS, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 45(6), 1997, pp. 2332-2340
During investigation of the kinetics of skatole in pigs, it was observ
ed that some pigs, which are poor metabolizers of skatole (3-methylind
ole), are incapable of forming a metabolite named MII. This lead to th
e hypothesis that incidents of boar taint in Danish pigs could at leas
t be due partly to polymorphism in one of the P-450 isoenzymes respons
ible for the oxidative metabolism of skatole. To further investigate t
he metabolism of skatole in pigs, selected metabolites of skatole were
isolated and identified. Three major metabolites of skatole were isol
ated from urine from pigs given [C-14]-skatole (5 mg/kg). The metaboli
tes were identified using mass spectroscopy (MS) and nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as 6-sulfatoxyskatole (MII), 3-hydroxy-3-
methyloxindole (MIII), and the mercapturate adduct of skatole, 3-[(N-a
cetylcysteine-S-yl)methyl]indole (MX). MII and MIII are found both in
plasma. and urine, MX is only found in urine.