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The excretion levels of urinary amino acids obtained from acid hydrolysates were studied by gas chromatographic analysis in 29 normal individuals and 118 patients with bladder carcinoma. Leucine and isoleucine excretion were elevated in patients with bladder carcinoma as compared with normal subjects under the same experimental condition. Mathematical computer-assisted programs developed to aid in determining clusters of amino acid variables suggested that excretion of glycine, leucine, proline, and glutamic acid in men and concentrations of valine, serine, aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and lysine in women vary according to the invasiveness of the disease. These findings suggest that measurements of urinary amino acids may provide a useful parameter for the detection and aid in the staging of bladder carcinoma.

We have used gas chromatography to measure amino acids in hydrolysates of urine. Pigments were removed by adsorption on activated charcoal-resin which has been treated with salicylic acid. Nor-leucine was added as an internal standard. The amino acids were converted to their n-propyl-N-acetyl esters, which were separated by gas chromatography and quantitated by a flame ionization detector and an electronic integrator. Although overnight hydrolysis of urine and esterification and acetylation of the amino acids were time-consuming, these operations were well suited to batch processing, so that a single technologist could routinely analyze 10 urine samples per day with a single gas Chromatograph. The method quantitated 16 amino acids in a single Chromatographie run. The precision of analysis of specific amino acids was excellent (coefficient of variation

Summary 1.Following intravenous injection of Bromsulfalein in man, 45 to 60 per cent of dye is recovered from the urine and stool. Following its oral administration, 25 to 35 per cent of dye is recovered. Recovery is significantly reduced if stool output is delayed. 2.When Bromsulfalein is incubated with stool suspensions, dye destruction occurs at about the same rate as in the intestinal tract. 3.The bacteria of the stool from patients with acute and chronic hepatitis destroy B SP at a normal rate. The intestinal bacteria from three patients with portal cirrhosis, however, appear unable to do so in trypticase soy broth. 4.Incubation of BSP with individual intestinal organisms reveals that the diphtheroids and B. subt' 's are responsible for the major part of the destruction of dye.