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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Large Scale Non-targeted Metabolomic Profiling of Serum by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS)
Published on: March 14, 2013
[Determination of the activity of cytochrome P-450 CYP2A6 by HPLC method with caffeine as metabolizing probe]
Jun Li1, Xiang-qian Peng, Jian Zhang
1The Center of Clinical Pharmacology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, China. sphlijun@163.com
Aim:
To establish a HPLC method for determining five major metabolites of caffeine in the urine, 5-acetylamino-6-formylamino-3-methyluracil (AFMU), 1-methylxanthine (1X), 1-methyluric acid (1U), 1,7-dimethyluric acid (17U) and 1,7-dimethylxanthine (17X) and assess the activity of cytochrome P-450 CYP2A6.
Methods:
The contents of five major metabolites of caffeine in the urine were determined by RP-HPLC method. Frequency distribution histogram was drawn by calculating the 17U/(AFMU + 1X + 1U + 17X + 17U) and then evaluated the activity of CYP2A6.
Results:
The frequency distribution histograms of CYP2A6 approximately indicated three distinct groups, the cut of point is 0.23 between fast metabolizer and intermediate type. And the cut of point is 0.15 between slow metabolizer and intermediate type.
Conclusion:
The method is simple and rapid, suitable for the determination of metabolites of caffeine in urine. The method can be used to assay the activity of CYP2A6.

