High-performance liquid chromatographic separation of caffeine, theophylline, theobromine and paraxanthine in rat brain and serum

Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of natural methylxanthines in animal and man

Caffeine, theophylline, theobromine, and paraxanthine administered to animals and humans distribute in all body fluids and cross all biological membranes. They do not accumulate in organs or tissues and are extensively metabolized by the liver, with less than 2% of caffeine administered excreted unchanged in human urine. Dose-independent and dose-dependent pharmacokinetics of caffeine and other dimethylxanthines may be observed and explained by saturation of metabolic pathways and impaired elimination due to the immaturity of hepatic enzyme and liver diseases. While gender and menstrual cycle have little effect on their elimination, decreased clearance is seen in women using oral contraceptives and during pregnancy. Obesity, physical exercise, diseases, and particularly smoking and the interactions of drugs affect their elimination owing to either stimulation or inhibition of CYP1A2. Their metabolic pathways exhibit important quantitative and qualitative differences in animal species and man. Chronic ingestion or restriction of caffeine intake in man has a small effect on their disposition, but dietary constituents, including broccoli and herbal tea, as well as alcohol were shown to modify their plasma pharmacokinetics. Using molar ratios of metabolites in plasma and/or urine, phenotyping of various enzyme activities, such as cytochrome monooxygenases, N-acetylation, 8-hydroxylation, and xanthine oxidase, has become a valuable tool to identify polymorphisms and to understand individual variations and potential associations with health risks in epidemiological surveys.

Use of novel solid-phase extraction sorbent materials for high-performance liquid chromatography quantitation of caffeine metabolism products methylxanthines and methyluric acids in samples of biological origin

An automated reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method, using a linear gradient elution, is described for the simultaneous analysis of caffeine and metabolites according to their elution order: 7-methyluric acid, 1-methyluric acid, 7-methylxanthine, 3-methylxanthine, 1-methylxanthine, 1,3-dimethyluric acid, theobromine, 1,7-dimethyluric acid, paraxanthine and theophylline. The analytical column, an MZ Kromasil C4, 250 x 4 mm, 5 microm, was operated at ambient temperature with back pressure values of 80-110 kg/cm2. The mobile phase consisted of an acetate buffer (pH 3.5)-methanol (97:3, v/v) changing to 80:20 v/v in 20 min time, delivered at a flow-rate of 1 ml/min. Paracetamol was used as internal standard at a concentration of 6.18 ng/microl. Detection was performed with a variable wavelength UV-visible detector at 275 nm, resulting in detection limits of 0.3 ng per 10-microl injection, while linearity held up to 8 ng/microl for most of analytes, except for paraxanthine and theophylline, for which it was 12 ng/microl and for caffeine for which it was 20 ng/microl. The statistical evaluation of the method was examined performing intra-day (n=6) and inter-day calibration (n=7) and was found to be satisfactory, with high accuracy and precision results. High extraction recoveries from biological matrices: blood serum and urine ranging from 84.6 to 103.0%, were achieved using Nexus SPE cartridges with hydrophilic and lipophilic properties and methanol-acetate buffer (pH 3.5) (50:50, v/v) as eluent, requiring small volumes, 40 microl of blood serum and 100 microl of urine.

Sample purification for the analysis of caffeine in tobacco by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A commonly used additive to tobacco products is cocoa. A sensitive an selective method was developed to measure caffeine, a marker for cocoa, in tobacco by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Tobacco components usually produce high background signals in GC-MS analysis. Therefore, a series of extraction steps were designed to effectively purify the tobacco extracts. The analytical recovery of caffeine was 100 when [trimethyl-13C3] caffeine was used as an isotope-dilution reference. A linear calibration curve was generated with caffeine concentration ranging from 0.01 to 20 micrograms/ml. The detection limit of caffeine was 0.02 microgram/ml in the final solution. This method was applied to several commercial tobacco products, of which the corresponding caffeine levels varied from below the detection limit to 125 micrograms/g.

Evaluation of the central effects of alcohol and caffeine interaction

1. The dynamic and kinetic interactions of alcohol and caffeine were studied in a double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over trial. Treatments were administered to eight healthy subjects in four experimental sessions, leaving a 1 week wash-out period between each, as follows: 1) placebo, 2) alcohol (0.8 g kg-1), 3) caffeine (400 mg) and 4) alcohol (0.8 g kg-1) + caffeine (400 mg). 2. Evaluations were performed by means of: 1) objective measures: a) psychomotor performance (critical flicker fusion frequency, simple reaction time and tapping test), b) long latency visual evoked potentials ('pattern reversal'); 2) subjective self-rated scales (visual analogue scales and profile of mood states); 3) caffeine and alcohol plasma concentration determinations. 3. The battery of pharmacodynamic tests was conducted at baseline and at +0.5 h, +1.5 h, +2.5 h, +4 h and +6 h. An analysis of variance was applied to the results, accepting a P < 0.05 as significant. The plasma-time curves for caffeine and alcohol were analysed by means of model-independent methods. 4. Results obtained with caffeine in the objective measures demonstrated a decrease in simple reaction time and an increase in the amplitude of the evoked potentials; the subjects' self-ratings showed a tendency to be more active. Alcohol increased simple reaction time and decreased amplitude of the evoked potentials, although the subjects rated themselves as being active. The combination of alcohol + caffeine showed no significant difference from placebo in the objective tests; nevertheless, the subjective feeling of drunkenness remained. The area under the curve (AUC) for caffeine was significantly higher when administered with alcohol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A simplified method for the measurement of caffeine in plasma and brain: evidence for a cortical-subcortical caffeine concentration differential in brain

We describe a much simplified high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the measurement of caffeine in plasma and brain. A particularly attractive feature of this method is that a simple methanol/water (60:40) mobile phase can be used both for plasma and brain samples. In addition, the method is compatible with solid-phase extraction for plasma samples and conventional brain tissue preparation for biogenic amine analysis with HPLC. Using this method to measure the concentrations of caffeine in plasma and brain of rats which received 10 or 50 mg/kg caffeine injections, we found substantial concentration differences between cortical and subcortical brain tissue. Specifically, at the 10 mg/kg dose, a nearly 2-fold difference between cortex and striatum caffeine concentrations was observed. A shortcoming of many neurobehavioral studies of caffeine effects is the absence of caffeine concentration measurements. The simplicity of the present method for the measurement of caffeine in plasma and brain tissue makes it a practical and feasible procedure to incorporate into neurobehavioral studies designed to elucidate the CNS actions of caffeine.

Simultaneous determination of caffeine and its primary demethylated metabolites in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography

An improved high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of caffeine and its three primary metabolites (theophylline, theobromine and paraxanthine) in human plasma is described. The four substances were separated on a reversed-phase column (5 microns TSK gel ODS-80TM, 150 mm x 4.6 mm I.D.) by use of the mobile phase methanol-0.1 M NaH2PO4 (30:70, v/v) with a flow-rate of 0.8 ml/min. Absorbance was monitored at 274 nm. The detection limit was 5 ng/ml for theobromine and caffeine and 10 ng/ml for paraxanthine and theophylline. The linearity and reproducibility were sufficient for drug monitoring of caffeine and its primary methylxanthines.