Metabolites of amygdalin under simulated human digestive fluids.

In the present study, degradation of amygdalin in the human digestive fluids and absorption of its metabolites by the human small intestine were evaluated by simulating a gastrointestinal digestion model combined with a human intestinal cell culture. Orally administered amygdalin was degraded into prunasin by digestive enzymes after passing through the salivary and gastrointestinal phases. Prunasin, the major metabolite of amygdalin in the digestive fluids, was incubated in a caco-2 cell culture system. Prunasin was degraded into the mandelonitrile by β-glucosidase and then hydroxylated across the small intestinal wall, producing hydroxymandelonitrile (149 Da). Results from this study suggest that risk assessment of amygdalin from food consumption can be done in a more accurate way by determining a pathway of amygdalin metabolism in the simulating human upper gastrointestinal tract.