Development of a hydrophilic liquid interaction chromatography-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry based stable isotope dilution analysis and pharmacokinetic studies on bioactive pyridines in human plasma and urine after coffee consumption.

The paper reports on the development of an accurate hydrophilic liquid interaction chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS/MS) based stable isotope dilution analysis for the simultaneous quantitation of the food-derived bioactive pyridines trigonelline, nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, and N-methylpyridinium, as well as their key metabolites nicotinamide-N-oxide, N-methylnicotinamide, N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, N-methyl-4-pyridone-5-carboxamide, and N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxylic acid in human plasma and urine. Precision of the stable isotope dilution analysis (SIDA) was 1.9% and 11.9% relative standard deviation (n = 6), and accuracy was between 92.4% and 113.0%. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 50 fmol (10 pmol/mL) injected onto the column for all analytes with the exception of N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxylic acid and N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, for which an LLOQ of 100 fmol (20 pmol/mL) was found. The method was applied to monitor the plasma appearance and urinary excretion and to determine pharmacokinetic parameters of the bioactive pyridines as well as their metabolites in a clinical human intervention study with healthy volunteers (six women, seven men) after oral administration of 350 mL of a standard coffee beverage. Trigonelline plasma levels increased from 160 nmol/L to maximum concentrations of 5479 (males) or 6547 nmol/L (females), and N-methylpyridinium plasma levels raised from virtually complete absence to maximum values of 777 (females) or 804 nmol/L (males) within 2-3 and 1-2 h after coffee consumption, respectively. The high plasma levels of N-methylpyridinium found after coffee consumption clearly demonstrate for the first time that this cation is entering the vascular system, which is the prerequisite for biological in vivo effects claimed for that compound. In contrast, the coffee intervention did not significantly influence the plasma concentrations of N-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide and N-methyl-4-pyridone-5-carboxamide, the major niacin metabolites. Within 8 h after coffee intervention, an urinary excretion of 57.4 +/- 6.9% of trigonelline and 69.1 +/- 6.2% of N-methylpyridinium was found for the male volunteers, whereas females excreted slightly less with 46.2 +/- 7.4% and 61.9 +/- 12.2% of these pyridines.

Quantitative studies on roast kinetics for bioactives in coffee.

Quantitative analysis of the bioactives trigonelline (1), N-methylpyridinium (2), caffeine (3), and caffeoylquinic acids (4) in a large set of roasted Arabica (total sample size n = 113) and Robusta coffees (total sample size n = 38) revealed that the concentrations of 1 and 4 significantly correlated with the roasting color (P < 0.001, two tailed), whereas that of 2 significantly correlated inversely with the color (P < 0.001, two tailed). As dark-roasted coffees were rich in N-methylpyridinium whereas light-roasted coffees were rich in trigonelline and caffeoylquinic acids, manufacturing of roast coffees rich in all four bioactives would therefore necessitate blending of two or even more coffees of different roasting colors. Additional experiments on the migration rates during coffee brewing showed that all four bioactives were nearly quantitatively extracted in the brew (>90%) when a water volume/coffee powder ratio of >16 was used.

Quantitative investigation of trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide in foods, urine, and plasma by means of LC-MS/MS and stable isotope dilution analysis.

A straightforward stable isotope dilution analysis (SIDA) for the quantitative determination of trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide in foods such as coffee, as well as in biological samples by means of LC-MS/MS (MRM) has been developed. The coefficients of variation for their quantitative analysis in a coffee sample were 2.1% for trigonelline, 1.1% for nicotinic acid, and 3.1% for nicotinamide, and recovery experiments showed good results between 98.5 and 104.5%. Application of this SIDA for the quantification of trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide in coffee samples of different roasting degrees revealed a drastic degradation of trigonelline as well as the generation of nicotinic acid accounting for 4-6% of the initial trigonelline content, whereas nicotinamide remained rather constant at a low level. Besides the analysis of coffee samples, the feasibility of the developed SIDA was verified by analysis of other foods including breakfast cereals, rice, liver, and herring, as well as human urine and plasma samples.