title: Urinary excretion of HMMA and HVA in infants.
abstract: Gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection has been used to establish the normal urinary excretion values of homovanillic acid and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid in 808 infants aged 6 months. This study, the essential pre-requisite for population screening for neuroblastoma in babies, reveals a mean homovanillic acid of 10.9 mumol/mmol creatinine and mean 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic of 6.8 mumol/mmol creatinine. The upper 95% confidence interval were 25.5 mumol/mmol creatinine for homovanillic acid and 15.0 mumol/mmol creatinine for 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of the 39 samples, (4.8%) with apparent increased excretion of one or both metabolites, revealed that this was, in each case, due to interfering peaks on chromatography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: McGill
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Seviour
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Craft
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D014642:Vanilmandelic Acid / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D014642:Vanilmandelic Acid; D006719:Homovanillic Acid