title: Quantitation of urinary 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline and 1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline by high-performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed to quantify 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (TBC) and 1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (MTBC) in human urine. Urine samples with added internal standard were subjected to a reaction with fluorescamine and solvent extractions to remove the precursor tryptamine, which readily condenses with aldehydes in samples and reagents. Such a pretreatment completely suppressed the artifactual formation of TBC and MTBC during analytical procedures. The purified original tetrahydro-beta-carbolines and the internal standard were separated by reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography with fluorescent detection. Their simultaneous separation was automatically completed in a short time (< 12 min). Both TBC and MTBC were quantified at ng/mL concentrations. The quantitative results revealed a wide variation in urinary levels of TBC and MTBC, possibly indicating that their considerable amounts excreted in the urine originate from dietary sources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Pharmacology, Asahi University School of Dentistry, Gifu, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Todoriki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002243:Carbolines / Q000652:urine*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D005450:Fluorescamine; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008297:Male; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D014363:Tryptamines / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D002243:Carbolines; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D014363:Tryptamines; D005450:Fluorescamine; C038114:1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid; C009804:tryptoline