A method for extraction and high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS) analysis of the medicinally important genus Piper (Piperaceae) was developed. This allows for a rapid and accurate measure of unsaturated amides, or piperamides, in black pepper, Piper nigrum L., and in
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) contains a variety of alkamides. Among them, piperine has been reported to have antidepressant-like effects in chronically stressed mice, but little is known about the biological activity of other alkamides. In this study, we investigated the effects of alkamides from