title: Tetrahydrocurcumin in plasma and urine: quantitation by high performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: Tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), one of the major metabolites of curcumin, exhibits many of the same physiologic and pharmacological activities as curcumin and in some systems may exert greater antioxidant activity than curcumin. However, evaluation of clinical efficacy is limited by lack of sensitive methods for quantifying intake/absorption in blood or urine. We have developed a sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analytical method for detection of THC in plasma and urine. The method involves extracting the THC from 0.2 mL samples with 95% ethyl acetate/5% methanol, and beta-17-estradiol acetate as an internal standard. Analysis with a reversed-phase C18 column and UV detection at 280 nm demonstrates linear performance from 0.050 to 6.0 microg/mL in plasma, and 0.060 to 6.0 microg/mL in urine. The coefficients of variation for intra- and inter-assays were each<8.6%. The average recovery of THC from plasma and urine was greater than 98.5%. These data demonstrate a rapid, sensitive and accurate method for HPLC quantification of THC in plasma and urine.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Moores UCSD Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA. dheath@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Dennis D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Heath
authors.forename: Milagros A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pruitt
authors.forename: Dean E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: Aynun N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Begum
authors.forename: Sally A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Frautschy
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rock
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D003474:Curcumin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; C096277:tetrahydrocurcumin; D003474:Curcumin