IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTITATION OF ALKALOIDS IN COCA TEA

The consumption of coca tea is a common occurrence in many South Ameri can countries. The tell is often packaged in individual servings as te a bags which contain approximately 1 g of plant material. The consumpt ion of coca tea leads to ingestion of cocaine and other alkaloids; how ever, there is little information available regarding the pharmacologi cal or toxicological effects that result from consumption of coca tea. We performed a series of studies with coca tea bags from two South Am erican countries! Peru and Bolivia. The alkaloidal content of the 'coc a leaf in coca tea bags was determined by two different extraction met hods: Soxhlet extraction with methanol (exhaustive extraction), and me chanical agitation with methanol. Extracts were purified by solid-phas e extraction (SPE) followed by analysis by gas chromatography/mass spe ctrometry (GC/MS). Coca tea prepared from Peruvian and Bolivian coca t ea bags was also analyzed by SPE-GC/MS assay. In addition, urine speci mens were analyzed from an individual who consumed one cup of Peruvian coca tea and one cup of Bolivian coca tea on separate occasions. Urin e samples were analyzed by immunoassay (TDx(R)) and SPE-GC/MS. Analysi s of coca tea bags and coca tea indicated that cocaine, benzoylecgonin e, ecgonine methyl ester and trans-cinnamoylcocaine were present in va rying quantities. With exhaustive extraction, an average of 5.11 mg, a nd 4.86 mg of cocaine per tea bag were found in coca leaf from Peru an d Bolivia, respectively. The average amounts of benzoylecgonine and ec gonine methyl ester in Peruvian coca leaf were 0.11 and 1.15 mg, and i n Bolivian coca leaf were 0.12 and 2.93 mg pet tea bag, respectively. trans-Cinnamoylcocaine was found in trace amounts in Peruvian tea bags and 0.16 mg/tea bag of Bolivian tea. When tea was prepared, an averag e of 4.14 mg of cocaine was present in a cup of Peruvian coca tea and 4.29 mg of cocaine was present in Bolivian tea. Following the consumpt ion of a cup of Peruvian tea by one individual, a peak urine benzoylec gonine concentration of 3940 ng/ml occurred 10 h after ingestion. Cons umption of Bolivian coca tea resulted in a peak benzoylecgronine conce ntration of 4979 ng/ml at 3.5 h. The cumulative urinary excretion of b enzoylecgonine after approximately 48 h, determined by GC/MS, was 3.11 mg and 2.69 mg after consumption of Peruvian and Bolivian coca tea, r espectively. This study demonstrated that coca tea bags and coca tea c ontain a significant amount of cocaine and cocaine-related alkaloids a nd the consumption of a single cup of Peruvian or Bolivian coca tea pr oduces positive drug test results for cocaine metabolites.