Abstract
ONE of the diseases in which there may be a defect of tryptophane metabolism is scleroderma. This belief is based on such experimental evidence as the increased excretion of the intermediate metabolites of tryptophane after oral administration of large doses of trytophane1. One of these metabolites, kynurenine, has been identified in water extracts of rat hair2. It seemed of interest, therefore, to determine whether or not kynurenine could be found in the hair of patients with scleroderma. Kynurenine has not been reported in previous analyses of normal human hair3,4.
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References
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Rebell, G., Lamb, J. H., Mahvi, A., and Lee, H. R., J. Invest. Dermatol., 29, 471 (1957).
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Barnicott, N. A., Brit. J. Derm., 71, 303 (1959).
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LEVIT, F. Absence of Kynurenine in Hair of Patients with Scleroderma. Nature 204, 593 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/204593a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/204593a0
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