The expanding demands of consumers requires food quality control to be improved all the time. Higher concentration of biogenic amines can lead to food toxicity, for example they can cause migraine headaches in people who consume products rich of serotonin or tyramine. Methylxanthines (caffeine and metabolites) can also have side effects to human comfort – high doses can lead to unrest, irritation or insomnia. Most vitamins are supplied to humans only as a part of food meals or dietary supplements. Knowledge about their concentration in food can be useful for composing various diets. In this work specification of complete sample preparation parameters for extraction of the compounds from food matrices has been reviewed. Particular attention was given to the preparation stage as well as to extraction methods that have been used. The second part of the work presents data from chromatographic methods for determination and separation of selected biogenic amines, methylxanthines and water-soluble vitamins in food. Stationary and mobile phases, detection methods as well as validation data have been reviewed. This publication is a comprehensive compendium of analytical procedures for food analyses of the previously mentioned compounds.

The current study was designed to examine the effects of intracerebroventricular injections of SHU9119 [a nonselective melanocortin receptor (McR) antagonist] and MCL0020 (a selective McR antagonist) on the serotonin-induced eating and drinking responses of broiler cockerels deprived of food for 24 h (FD24). For Experiment 1, the chickens were intracerebroventricularly injected with 2.5, 5, and 10 ㎍ serotonin. In Experiment 2, the chickens received 2 nmol SHU9119 before being injected with 10 ㎍ serotonin. For Experiment 3, the chickens were given 10 ㎍ serotonin after receiving 2 nmol MCL0020, and the level of food and water intake was determined 3 h post-injection. Results of this study showed that serotonin decreased food intake but increased water intake among the FD24 broiler cockerels and that these effects occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of serotonin on food intake was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with SHU9119 and MCL0020. However, the stimulatory effect of serotonin on water intake was not altered by this pretreatment. These results suggest that serotonin hypophagia and hyperdipsia were mediated by different mechanisms in the central nervous system, and that serotonin required downstream activation of McRs to promote hypophagia but not hyperdipsia in the FD24 chickens.