Abstract
Summary
1. Urinary excretions of nicotinic acid and amide, quinilinic acid, N'-methylnicotinamide, 6-pyridone, tryptophan, kynurenin, anthranilic acid and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid were estimated in normal men and in patients suffering from typhoid fever, cholera, small pox, cirrhosis of liver and infective hepatitis both before and for 3 days after the feeding of tryptophan. 2. Excretion of tryptophan both before and after feeding diminished in all the diseases studied. Kynurenin which was absent initially in the urine of patients appeared in urine collected for 24 hours after the feeding of tryptophan in small pox, liver cirrhosis and hepatitis but not in cholera. 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid appeared in urine after tryptophan was fed in cholera, small pox and hepatitis but not in cirrhosis of liver. In all diseased conditions studied, except in typhoid and small pox, urinary excretion of nicotinic acid and its metabolites was greatly diminished. After administration of tryptophan urinary excretion of nicotinic acid metabolites increased in all diseases but the increase was least in patients suffering from cholera. 3. Patients suffering from small pox excreted increased amounts of nicotinic acid and its derivatives both before and after tryptophan feeding as compared to normal men.
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