Tryptophane Metabolites in Human Urine

• DOI: 10.1038/172204a0
• Publication Date: 2006-05-30T11:19:40Z
• Authors: M. ŠPAČEK
• Keywords: Tryptophan Metabolism

I HAVE already reported1 that some human urine specimens made strongly alkaline yield distillates presenting spectroscopic and polarographic properties of o-aminoacetophenone. This was interpreted as indicating the presence of kynurenine in human urine, since (1) o-aminoacetophenone is not present in untreated urine, and (2) no substance other than kynurenine was known to behave in the way described under the condition of experiment. Tabone's interpretation2, that the source of o-aminoacetophenone in human urine is tryptophane, was based on rather different and qualitative experiments.