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.
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
T
T
Yanase
H
H
Nawata
K
K
Kato
H
H
Ibayashi
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