Introduction
Dried extracts of Piper methysticum G. Forst, also known as kava, has been widely used due to its anxiolytic and sedative properties. In order to assure the quality of these extracts, it is essential to accurately quantify kavalactones, known as the active principle.
Objectives
To develop and validate an analytical method for the simultaneous quantification of six major kavalactones (kavain, dihydrokavain, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, yangonin and demethoxyyangonin) in kava extracts, comparing multi‐standards and single standard validation approaches.
Material and methods
Separation was performed using a C18 column, water/methanol/acetonitrile/2‐propanol (66:07:09:18 v/v/v/v) and detection at 245 and 350 nm. A full method validation was performed, employing analytical standards for each compound. Commercial kava dried extracts were assayed and the results obtained using the method validated for six kavalactone standards were compared with those obtained when only kavain was used as standard.
Results
Baseline resolution for all kavalactones was obtained in short run time (15 min). Although the total kavalactone content varied between samples, a similar distribution profile was observed. When the method validated with all six analytical standards was compared to the calibration using only kavain standard, kavalactone contents were considerably different (from 7.57 to 36.53%).
Conclusion
The obtained results demonstrate the importance of a validated method using individual kavalactone standards for the effective quality control of kava extracts. In a next step, the method needs to be adapted to also include flavokavin B (FKB), as an important authentication marker to distinguish between the accepted variety “noble Kava” and the toxic “two‐day Kava”.
Sulphonylureas are widely used in the treatment of Diabetes mellitus, one of the main causes of death in human population. Their determination is essential in pharmacological research and in the development of new drugs. Generally, determination of sulphonylureas in biological matrices is performed using conventional sample preparation techniques, which frequently leads to an increase of analysis time and errors. In this context, a bioanalytical method for the simultaneous determination of sulphonylureas by direct injection of human plasma was developed and optimized. An automated column-switching high performance liquid chromatographic system with a restricted access media (RAM) column coupled to a fused-core column was employed. At the first dimension, a RAM column with mobile phase of ultrapure water pH 6.0 at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL min-1 was used. The valve switching time was 3 minutes. At the second dimension, a C18 guard-column coupled to a C18 fused core column with mobile phase of acetonitrile and 10 mM phosphate buffer pH 3.0 (54:46 v/v) at a flow-rate of 0.8 mL min-1 were employed. The column switching system was performed in backflush configuration with an analyte elution time of 1 minute. Flufenamic acid was used as the internal standard. The mean plasma protein exclusion percentage by the RAM-column was 104.5%. The developed and optimized method showed to be fast and simple, allowing the direct injection of biological sample into the chromatographic system and the simultaneous determination of three sulphonylureas in only 12 minutes, including the sample treatment, separation and detection.
Piper methysticum G. Forst, popularly known as kava, is a traditional medicinal plant widely used for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. The aim of this study was to investigate new therapeutic applications of this plant. Nociceptive response induced by heat (hot-plate) was used as pain model. Susceptibility of different strains to kava ethanolic dried extracts was evaluated by broth microdilution method. Acute oral toxicity was performed according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guideline. Administration of kava dried extracts and kavain inhibited the nociceptive response in the hot-plate model and did not affect the time mice spent in the rota-rod apparatus. The samples showed no significant antibacterial activity, however slight antifungal activity was verified. The extracts may be considered of low oral acute toxicity. Kava extracts exhibited promising antinociceptive activity in model of nociceptive pain, which should be deeper explored as a new therapeutic application of kava.
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