Urinary excretion of certain amino acids during ACTH and cortisone treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abstract

Summary and conclusionsRheumatoid arthritis patients treated with ACTH showed a highly significant increase in urinary free threonine, lysine, and tyrosine as determined as the average and maximum 24-hour excretion. Cortisone-treated patients excreted a highly significant amount of threonine and tyrosine at the maximum, but lysine was not increased significantly. Arginine excretion was not significantly affected by either ACTH or Cortisone. Supplementary medication did not affect significantly the responses of the patients to ACTH or Cortisone, chemically or clinically. Clinical improvement in all patients was both subjective and objective. The cause of the increase in urinary excretion of the amino acids herein reported is not known and may or may not be associated directly with the metabolic changes brought about by the remission of rheumatoid arthritis.