Correlation of daily urinary excretion of met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity and epinephrine in men.
To investigate the source of urinary Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (MELI), 24-h urinary excretion of MELI and catecholamines (CAs) were examined in normal subjects and patients with tuberculous Addison's disease. MELI was present in urine and 24-h urinary excretion of MELI averaged 813.8 +/- 446.9 ng/day in normal subjects (N = 33, Mean +/- SD). 24-h urinary excretion of MELI in normal subjects significantly showed positive correlation with 24-h urinary epinephrine (E) (R = 0.392, P less than 0.05) but no correlation with that of norepinephrine (NE) or dopamine (DA). In two patients with tuberculous Addison's disease, 24-h urinary excretion of MELI and that of E were significantly lower than those of normal subjects. These results indicate that the main source of urinary MELI may be adrenal medulla.
Yanase
T
T
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Nawata
H
H
Kato
K
K
Ibayashi
H
H
D000224:Addison Disease / Q000652:urine; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D004298:Dopamine / Q000652:urine; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000652:urine*; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine; D014383:Tuberculosis, Endocrine / Q000652:urine
D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine; D004298:Dopamine; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine