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Polymorphic N ‐acetylation of a caffeine metabolite
Author(s) -
Grant Denis M,
Tang Bing K,
Kalow Werner
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.1983.45
Subject(s) - caffeine , metabolite , acetylation , pharmacology , chemistry , computational biology , medicine , biology , biochemistry , gene
In the course of investigations into variability in the metabolism of caffeine in human populations, urinary levels of 5‐acetylamino‐6‐formylamino‐3‐methyluracil (AFMU), a newly discovered ring‐opened metabolite of caffeine, were found to be both bimodally distributed and interethnically variable in samples (Caucasian: n = 42; Oriental: n = 26) from the Toronto population. To test the premise that the polymorphic N ‐acetyltransferase enzyme (E.C.2.3.1.5) could be responsible for the production of AFMU, 20 of the subjects were phenotyped for acetylator status using sulfamethazine (SMZ). Concordance for all subjects between AFMU production and SMZ acetylation strongly suggests that the acetylation polymorphism is involved in the formation of AFMU in man. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1983) 33, 355–359; doi: 10.1038/clpt.1983.45