Abstract:The urines of patients suffering from idiopathic porphyria have often been noted to exhibit strong Ehrlich reactions, in many instances at least, not due to urobilinogen. Waldenström's studies, clearl...The urines of patients suffering from idiopathic porphyria have often been noted to exhibit strong Ehrlich reactions, in many instances at least, not due to urobilinogen. Waldenström's studies, clearly demonstrated that the chromogen responsible for the Ehrlich reaction in these urines is quite distinct from urobilinogen, which is of course, most often implicated in other pathological states. During the past 3 years we have had opportunity to investigate urine samples from 5 cases of so-called "acute" idiopathic porphyria. In each instance the urine contained the zinc complex of uroporphyrin in considerable amount. The subject of zinc uroporphyria as a disease entity will be considered in a separate communication. These urines also exhibited Ehrlich reactions in varying degree, at times very intense. In the first 4 cases, the freshly voided urine was already red-brown in color, becoming darker on exposure to light. In the fifth case, the fresh urine was for the most part normal in color, exhibiting a strong Ehrlich reaction. On standing in the light for several days the urine from this case likewise became a deep reddish-brown, containing now both the zinc complex of uroporphyrin and the reddish-brown porphobilin. Waldenström pointed out that porphobilinogen is much less soluble in organic solvents than is urobilinogen., In addition to confirming this, we have found that the porphobilinogen aldehyde compound as formed in the Ehrlich reaction is wholly insoluble in chloroform, while that of urobilinogen is readily and easily extracted with this solvent. The reaction as we have carried it out is as follows: Equal parts of urine and Ehrlich's reagent are mixed in a test tube.Read More
Publication Year: 1941
Publication Date: 1941-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 201
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