Abstract
Summary
Two methods, partition chromatography and chemical amino nitrogen determination, have been employed in a study of the amino-acid excretions of 32 patients diagnosed as suffering from progressive muscular dystrophy and closely related conditions. In the case of progressive muscular dystrophy, partition chromatography indicated that both the number and the concentration of amino acids excreted were in many cases considerably above the normal limits. In addition, the results of amino nitrogen determinations indicated that some of these patients showed values far above normal limits and the majority were somewhat greater than normal.
Early muscular dystrophies, particularly of the facio-scapulo-humeral type, did not exhibit as marked an excretion of amino acids as the more advanced cases with or without pseudohypertrophic muscle symptoms. Data on the amino acid excretion of 2 cases of dermatomyositis and one each of amyotonia congenita and myotonia atropica were obtained.
On the basis of these observations it is concluded that progressive muscular dystrophy is characterized by a generalized aminoaciduria.
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