title: Free serum histidine levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and control subjects following an oral load of free L-histidine.
abstract: A dose of 3.7 g of free-L-histidine was administered by mouth to 26 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis and to 29 control subjects. The patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a statistically significant (p=10(-12)) lower pretreatment concentration of free histidine in serum (1.20 mg/100 ml, SE=0.04) than the control subjects (1.90 mg/100 ml, SE=0.06). However, there were no statistically significant differences between rheumatoid and control subjects with respect to the serum histidine concentrations 1 hr, 3 hr, and 4 hr after the ingestion of L-histidine. The changes in the serum histidine concentrations at 1 hr, 3 hr, and 4 hr (compared to the pretest values) were also not significantly different in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis relative to the control subjects. This study suggests that the subnormal free serum histidine concentration of rheumatoid arthritis is not associated with abnormal serum levels of free histidine following an oral load of free histidine.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood*; D005215:Fasting; D006639:Histidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006639:Histidine