Bioanalytical method by HPLC-FLD for curcumin analysis in supplemented athletes.

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Curcumin, from turmeric, has potent antioxidant properties beneficial for athletes.
• Intense exercise saturates athletes' natural antioxidant defenses.
• Curcumin's poor bioavailability (low absorption, rapid metabolism/elimination) limits its use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection (HPLC-FLD) method.
• To accurately quantify curcumin in the plasma of athletes supplemented with curcumin.
• To facilitate pharmacodynamic evaluation of curcumin in athletes.

Main Methods:

• HPLC-FLD analysis using a Luna C18 column.
• Mobile phase: acetonitrile: acetic acid (pH 3.2).
• Plasma sample extraction with ethyl acetate/methanol and estradiol internal standard.
• Method validation for linearity, precision, accuracy, and selectivity.

Main Results:

• The method demonstrated linearity between 44-261 ng/mL.
• Intra-day precision ranged from 2.0-5.6%, and inter-day precision from 4.0-5.1%.
• The method showed good accuracy and selectivity, with curcumin eluting at 8.7 min.

Conclusions:

• The developed HPLC-FLD method is suitable for quantifying curcumin in athletes' plasma.
• This method offers an advantageous alternative to UV-Vis and MS/MS for bioavailability studies.
• Accurate curcumin measurement is crucial for evaluating its pharmacodynamics in supplemented athletes.