title: Urinary elimination of ephedrines following administration of the Traditional Chinese Medicine preparation Kakkon-to.
abstract: Kakkon-to is one of the most common Traditional Chinese Medicine preparations for the attenuation of colds. Ephedrae Herba is one of the prescriptions of Kakkon-to. The major ingredients of Ephedrae Herba, ephedrines, are banned substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list. The purpose of this study was to investigate the elimination of urinary ephedrines after administering Kakkon-to and to determine the possibility of urinary positive ephedrine test results. Six healthy volunteers took one single dose of 2.5 g Kakkon-to extract granules. The concentrations of urinary ephedrines were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The result showed that ephedrine and norpseudoephedrine were excreted in the urine after taking one single dose of Kakkon-to. However, the highest amount of ephedrines in urine was ephedrine and the peak concentration was 4.35 +/- 1.82 microg/mL (mean +/- standard deviation), which was lower than the WADA permitted value (10 microg/mL). The estimated elimination half-lives of ephedrine, norephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and norpseudoephedrine following administration of this preparation were: 5.2 +/- 1.2, 4.2 +/- 1.3, 4.2 +/- 0.9, and 6.5 +/- 2.8 h, respectively. This study concluded that the urine would not violate the rule of doping after administering a single dose of Kakkon-to. Nevertheless, a further study on administering the preparation for 3 times per day for 3 days showed a positive ephedrine result. Athletes should be careful when taking more than a single dose of Kakkon-to.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Coaching Sciences, National Taiwan Sport University, 250 Wen Hua 1st Rd., Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kuei Hui
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Ryh-Nan
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Mei-Chich
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Ku-Fu
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D001711:Biotransformation; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000652:urine*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004300:Doping in Sports; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D029789:Ephedra / Q000737:chemistry*; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000652:urine*; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C090831:kakkon-to; D004809:Ephedrine