title: The N-oxidation of trimethylamine in a Jordanian population.
abstract: The ability to oxidise trimethylamine (TMA) to trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is distributed polymorphically within a British white population with the majority of individuals excreting greater than 90% of total urinary TMA as TMAO. The opposite extreme is characterised by a rare inborn error of TMA N-oxidation known as the fish-odour syndrome. However there is a lack of information regarding inter-individual variability in the N-oxidation of TMA in other ethnic groups. In this study the urinary excretion of TMA and TMAO was determined over a period of 24 h in 82 Jordanian subjects. A frequency distribution histogram of % of total urinary TMA excreted as TMAO revealed that the majority of subjects excreted greater than 80% of the total urinary TMA as TMAO, however eight subjects (9.7%) excreted less than 80% of the total TMA as TMAO. In a previous study of 169 white British subjects only one (0.6%) excreted less than 80% of the total TMA as TMAO. The results suggest that the prevalence of compromised ability to N-oxidise TMA may be higher in a Jordanian population than in a British population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid.
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Hadidi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cholerton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Irshaid
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Rawashdeh
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Idle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D008297:Male; D008661:Metabolism, Inborn Errors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008744:Methylamines / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009812:Odorants; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
chemical_list: D008744:Methylamines; C005855:trimethyloxamine; C023336:trimethylamine