title: Plasma capric acid concentrations in healthy subjects determined by high-performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Capric acid (FA10:0, decanoic acid) is a medium-chain fatty acid abundant in tropical oils such as coconut oil, whereas small amounts are present in milk of goat, cow, and human. Orally ingested FA10:0 is transported to the liver and quickly burnt within it. Only few reports are available for FA10:0 concentrations in human plasma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fasting (n = 5, male/female = 3/2, age 31 ± 9.3 years old) and non-fasting (n = 106, male/female = 44/62, age 21.9 ± 3.2 years old) blood samples were collected from apparently healthy Japanese volunteers. The total FA10:0 in the plasma were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography after derivatization with 2-nitrophenylhydrazine followed by UV detection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Inter and intra-assay coefficient of variation of FA10:0 assay at three different concentrations ranged in 1.7-3.9 and 1.3-5.4%, respectively, with an analytical recovery of 95.2-104.0%. FA10:0 concentration was below detection limit (0.1 µmol/L) in each fasting human plasma. FA10:0 was not detected in 50 (47.2%) of 106 non-fasting blood samples, while 29 (27.4%) plasma samples contained FA10:0 less than or equal to 0.5 µmol/L (0.4 ± 0.1), and 27 (25.5%) contained it at more than 0.5 µmol/L (0.9 ± 0.3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A half of the non-fasting plasma samples contained detectable FA10:0. This simple, precise, and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography method might be useful for monitoring plasma FA10:0 during medium-chain triglycerides therapy.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Rojeet
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan keino@hs.hokudai.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shu-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology Center, Oita University Hospital, Oita, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Oita University, Oita, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Oita University, Oita, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fuda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Novel, Non-Invasive, and Nutritional Therapeutics (CNT), Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Novel, Non-Invasive, and Nutritional Therapeutics (CNT), Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Novel, Non-Invasive, and Nutritional Therapeutics (CNT), Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chiba
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D019963:Clinical Chemistry Tests / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D003652:Decanoic Acids / Q000097:blood*; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003652:Decanoic Acids; C031071:decanoic acid
keywords: High-performance liquid chromatography; medium-chain triglycerides; plasma capric acid