Duality of the Coproporphyrins in Bovine Congenital Porphyrinuria

Abstract

OF the four theoretically possible isomeric types of porphyrins, only those belonging to Series I and III have so far been encountered in Nature. Hæmoglobin, bilirubin, cytochrome, etc., are Series III derivatives. Series III has thus come to be regarded as the normal or physiological type. Excretion of excessive amounts of porphyrins belonging to Series III does, however, occur in certain pathological states including lead poisoning (Grotepass¹, Mertens², Fischer and Duesberg³), pigment cirrhosis of the liver (Dobriner⁴), hepatic tumours (Dobriner⁴) and after administration of salvarsan (Schreus⁵). The uroporphyrin excreted in acute idiopathic porphyrinuria has been shown to be uroporphyrin III (Waldenström⁶, Mertens⁷), whilst Dobriner⁸ has detected the simultaneous presence of coproporphyrins I and III in the stool from one such case.