Comparison of the quantification of caffeine in human plasma by gas chromatography and ELISA

Influence of electroacupuncture on ghrelin and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/endothelial nitric oxide synthase signaling pathway in spontaneously hypertensive rats

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) on ghrelin and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/endothelial nitric oxide synthase (PI3K/Akt/eNOS) signaling pathway in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).

METHODS

Eight Wistar-Kyoto rats were used as the healthy blood pressure (BP) control (normal group), and 32 SHRs were randomized into model group, EA group, EA plus ghrelin group (EA + G group), and EA plus PF04628935 group (a potent ghrelin receptor blocker; EA + P group) using a random number table. Rats in the normal group and model group did not receive treatment, but were immobilized for 20 min per day, 5 times a week, for 4 continuous weeks. SHRs in the EA group, EA + G group and EA + P group were immobilized and given EA treatment in 20 min sessions, 5 times per week, for 4 weeks. Additionally, 1 h before EA, SHRs in the EA + G group and EA + P group were intraperitoneally injected with ghrelin or PF04628935, respectively, for 4 weeks. The tail-cuff method was used to measure BP. After the 4-week intervention, the rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and pathological morphology of the abdominal aorta was observed using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the levels of ghrelin, nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) in the serum. Isolated thoracic aortic ring experiment was performed to evaluate vasorelaxation. Western blot was used to measure the expression of PI3K, Akt, phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) and eNOS proteins in the abdominal aorta. Further, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was conducted to measure the relative levels of mRNA expression for PI3K, Akt and eNOS in the abdominal aorta.

RESULTS

EA significantly reduced the systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) (P < 0.05). HE staining showed that EA improved the morphology of the vascular endothelium to some extent. Results of ELISA indicated that higher concentrations of ghrelin and NO, and lower concentrations of ET-1 and TXA2 were presented in the EA group (P < 0.05). The isolated thoracic aortic ring experiment demonstrated that the vasodilation capacity of the thoracic aorta increased in the EA group. Results of Western blot and qRT-PCR showed that EA increased the abundance of PI3K, p-Akt/Akt and eNOS proteins, as well as expression levels of PI3K, Akt and eNOS mRNAs (P < 0.05). In the EA + G group, SBP and DBP decreased (P < 0.05), ghrelin concentrations increased (P < 0.05), and the concentrations of ET-1 and TXA2 decreased (P < 0.05), relative to the EA group. In addition, the levels of PI3K and eNOS proteins, the p-Akt/Akt ratio, and the expression of PI3K, Akt and eNOS mRNAs increased significantly in the EA + G group (P < 0.05), while PF04628935 reversed these effects.

CONCLUSION

EA effectively reduced BP and protected the vascular endothelium, and these effects may be linked to promoting the release of ghrelin and activation of the PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway.

Equine poisoning by coffee husk (Coffea arabica L.)

Background

In Brazil, coffee (Coffea arabica) husks are reused in several ways due to their abundance, including as stall bedding. However, field veterinarians have reported that horses become intoxicated after ingesting the coffee husks that are used as bedding. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether coffee husk consumption causes intoxication in horses.

Results

Six horses fed coast cross hay ad libitum were given access to coffee husks and excitability, restlessness, involuntary muscle tremors, chewing movements and constant tremors of the lips and tongue, excessive sweating and increased respiration and heart rates were the most evident clinical signs. Caffeine levels were measured in the plasma and urine of these horses on two occasions: immediately before the coffee husks were made available to the animals (T0) and at the time of the clinical presentation of intoxication, 56 h after the animals started to consume the husks (T56). The concentrations of caffeine in the plasma (p < 0.001) and urine (p < 0.001) of these animals were significantly greater at T56 than at T0.

Conclusions

It was concluded that consumption of coffee husks was toxic to horses due to the high levels of caffeine present in their composition. Therefore, coffee husks pose a risk when used as bedding or as feed for horses.

Determination of caffeine and its metabolites in urine by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

The caffeine content of foods and beverages varies considerably, interfering with our ability to obtain valid interpretations in many human studies with regard to the mechanism of action(s) of caffeine and/or its metabolites. The rate of metabolism of caffeine and other xanthine drugs also varies greatly from one individual to another. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop accurate, reliable analytical methods to quantify caffeine and its metabolites in simple and complex matrixes. A simple method is described for the separation and characterization of caffeine and its major metabolites employing capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to ultraviolet-absorption and mass spectrometry (MS) detection. After optimization of the electrophoresis separation conditions, a reliable separation of caffeine and 11 of its major metabolites was achieved in 50 mM ammonium carbonate buffer, pH 11.0. The volatile aqueous electrolyte system used with a normal electroosmotic flow polarity also provided an optimal separation condition for the characterization of the analytes by MS. The CE method achieved baseline resolution for all 12 compounds in less than 30 min. The CE-MS method is suitable for use as a routine procedure for the rapid separation and characterization of caffeine and its metabolites. The usefulness of this method was demonstrated by the extraction, separation, and identification of caffeine and its 11 metabolites from normal urine samples. The urine specimens were first acidified to obtain optimum binding efficiency to the sorbents of the off-line, solid-phase extraction procedure employed here, and an acidified eluent solvent was employed for the desorption step to maximize the recovery of the bound analytes.