Caffeine was used as a metabolic probe to screen healthy subjects for their activities of two enzymes, deduced to be CYPlA2 (an inducible cytochrome P450) and xanthine oxidase. A longitudinal study revealed modest effects of caffeine dose, ethanol intake, and time-of-day on the CYPlA2 index, without any effect on the xanthine oxidase index. The coefficients of intraindividual variation not accounted for were 5.0% for the xanthine oxidase and 17.2% for the CYPlA2 index. In a population study, both indexes showed a log normal distribution, with CYPlA2 values of most subjects covering a 6.3-fold range but only a 1.7-fold range with xanthine oxidase. The CYPlA2 index was 33% decreased in women who used oral contraceptives and substantially increased in cigarette smokers. Neither the CYPlA2 nor the xanthine oxidase index differed between volunteers of Chinese and European extraction. Four of 178 subjects showed unexplained low xanthine oxidase values (i.e., values several standard deviations below the mean). (CLIN PHARMACOL THER 1991;50:508-19.)
Urinary metabolites excreted after oral caffeine were quantified in a healthy sample (n = 68) from the Toronto population by HPLC analyses. The profile of metabolites, assessed by examining particular metabolite ratios, was found to differ widely among subjects. Ratios denoting cytochrome P-450-dependent activities were shown to be interethnically variable between oriental and Caucasian groups, whereas those indicative of xanthine oxidase activity exhibited neither significant interindividual variation nor an ethnic difference. It was also shown that a ratio providing an index of polymorphic N-acetyltransferase activity holds promise as a simple marker for acetylator status in man.
Systemic caffeine clearance and urinary metabolite profiles were determined in 15 subjects with diverse exposure histories to cytochrome P-450 inducers (cigarette smoke) and inhibitors (oral contraceptive steroids). A correlation was observed between caffeine clearance and a urinary ratio based on the molar recovery of paraxanthine 7-demethylation products relative to a paraxanthine 8-hydroxylation product (r = 0.91; P less than 0.001). Analysis of urinary metabolites was undertaken in a larger population to assess the effects of gender, age, oral contraceptives, and smoking on the ratio. No gender differences were observed in either adults or children; children (n = 21) showed a higher (P less than 0.001) mean metabolite ratio than adults (n = 61), oral contraceptive users (n = 9) had lower (P less than 0.05) ratios than women not taking oral contraceptives (n = 30), and smokers (n = 26) had higher (P less than 0.001) ratios than nonsmokers (n = 61). The data indicate that a urinary metabolite ratio based on paraxanthine 7-demethylation/8-hydroxylation products reflects systemic caffeine clearance and likely monitors cytochrome P-450 activity inducible by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
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