title: Development and experimental application of an HPLC procedure for the determination of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in serum samples from human subjects.
abstract: Total capsaicins are extracted from 2 mL aliquots of serum or plasma using methyl-isobutyl ketone, evaporation of the extract to dryness and reconstitution with 200 μL of acetonitrile. The HPLC mobile phase is 40:60 water:acetonitrile. The absorbance of the eluent is monitored at 205 nm. Standardisation uses a known mixture of pure capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. Accuracies are 98.9 and 100.6 % for capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin respectively. Inter batch reproducibility for both is 15 %. The limits of detection are 2.6 and 3.8 ng/mL for capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin respectively. Analyses of sera obtained previously from human subjects who had eaten chilli containing meals showed that in those that absorbed capsaicins (N = 30) then the median, mean and SD of their serum capsaicin were: 13.4, 18.9 and 16.3 ng/mL. The corresponding data for those sera (N = 13) that had measurable levels of dihydrocapsaicin were: 6.9, 7.5 and 3.6 ng/mL. This procedure is suitable for use in prospective studies of the metabolism of orally ingested chilli.
authors.affiliation: School of Human Life Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250 Australia.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hartley
authors.affiliation: School of Human Life Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250 Australia.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: School of Human Life Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250 Australia.
authors.forename: Kiran D K
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.affiliation: School of Human Life Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250 Australia.
authors.forename: Madeleine J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ball
keywords: Capsaicin; Dihydrocapsaicin; HPLC; Post oral dose; Serum levels