A simple test for acetylator phenotype using caffeine (vol 17, pg 459, 1984)

1 A method is presented for the use of caffeine, in the forms commonly ingested by a large proportion of the world's population. to test for the clinically important acetylation polymorphism. 2 Each of 146 subjects provided a spot sample of urine between 2 and 6 h after coffee, tea or cola soft drink consumption, and the molar ratio of 5-acetylamino-6-formylamino-3-methyluracil (AFMU) to 1-methylxanthine. (IX) was determined by a simple h.p.l.c. assay. 3 The ratio afforded segregation of three apparent modes of acetylation capacity in this population, in concordance with a standard sulphamethazine phenotyping procedure and with other methods using controlled caffeine intake and urine collections. 4 The day-to-day consistency of the method was established in eight selected subjects.