title: Salivary arecoline levels during areca nut chewing in human volunteers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Arecoline stimulates cultured cells above 0.1 microg/ml and is cytotoxic above 10 microg/ml. Although this alkaloid seems important for areca nut induced oral carcinogenesis, little is known of the levels achieved during chewing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Saliva was collected in 3- to 5-min intervals over 50 min in 32 habitual chewers: before, for 25 min during, and for 20 min after chewing areca nut (0.5 g) without any other additives. Salivary arecoline was quantitated by HPLC-MS. Controls comprised six subjects who denied areca nut use, and who were given rubber-base material to chew during experiments instead.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Arecoline was detected before chewing in 22 subjects, exceeding the 0.1 microg/ml threshold in 20 cases. Salivary arecoline exceeded either the 0.1 or 10 microg/ml thresholds in all participants during chewing (P < 0.001). Maximum concentrations ranged from 5.66 to 97.39 microg/ml. All subjects reached 0.1 microg/ml salivary arecoline in at least 85% of time points studied (P < 0.0001), whereas 10 microg/ml was reached in 11 participants in at least 30% of the time points (P < 0.003). Arecoline concentrations varied greatly over time between individuals, and levels were much lower when peak concentrations were reached before 3 min, than in cases where arecoline peaked later (P < 0.02). No salivary arecoline was found in control saliva.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Areca nut users have persistent background salivary arecoline levels long after chewing, whereas concentrations achieved are highly variable and consistent with a role in oral pre-malignancy and malignancy.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Oral Surgery, The Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Sydney, Westmead Centre for Oral Health, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia. scox@dentistry.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Vickers
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghu
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zoellner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001114:Areca; D001115:Arecoline / Q000032:analysis*; D001315:Australia; D016010:Binomial Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001115:Arecoline