Caffeine acetylator phenotyping during maturation in infants.

Caffeine acetylator phenotype was studied during maturation in 54 8- to 447-d-old children hospitalized for minor disease (group A) and in five 3- to 630-d-old children with Pierre Robin syndrome (group B). In group A, the children received 2.5 mg/kg caffeine orally once between birth and 15 mo. Group B patients were chronically treated with caffeine (2.3 to 15.8 mg/kg/d) for prevention of apneas, and the acetylator phenotype was serially determined. Phenotyping was performed on a spot urine sample collected 2-6 h after drug administration. Caffeine metabolites [5-acetylamino-6-formylamino-3-methyl uracil (AFMU), 1-methylxanthine, 1-methyluric acid, 1,7-methyluric acid, and 1,7-methylxanthine] were measured using HPLC. Acetylator phenotype was determined on the basis of AFMU/1-methylxanthine (ratio 1) and AFMU/AFMU + 1,7-methyluric acid + 1-methylxanthine + 1,7- methylxanthine + 1,7-methyluric acid (ratio 2) molar ratios. In group A, all children were slow acetylators before 83 d of age (ratio 1 less than 0.4; ratio 2 less than 0.08), whereas older children included slow and fast acetylators. The acetylation molar ratios differed significantly between age groups and increased with age. The cumulative percentage of fast acetylators increased with age but the plateau was not yet reached at 15 mo. In three children, the phenotyping was repeated after 15 mo: the second determination was consistent with the first one. In group B, all children appeared as slow acetylators on the first phenotyping. Four of them appeared subsequently as fast acetylators; one remained a slow acetylator until 11 mo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)