Clinical Chemistry, Vol 6, 98-114, Copyright © 1960 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Observations Concerning Pentosuria and Labile Phosphate Excretion in Muscular Dystrophy

¹ Departments of Biochemistry and Neurology, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

Early attempts to confirm the presence of pentose in urine from dystrophic patients by paper chromatography were unsuccessful. We were unable to confirm these observations, employing the same methods used in the original publication. An attempt to isolate pentosazone from the urine of dystrophic patients yielded 1-phenylsemicarbazide. No significant excretion of labile organic phosphate was found in urine from either vitamin E-deficient rabbits or cholinedeficient rabbits.

Column chromatographic methods were developed for the separation of pentosazones from hexosazones, and for the purification of osazones in lieu of recrystallization. Two solvent systems are described that will separate osazones from 1-phenylsemicarbazide, using ascending paper chromatography, but that do not separate osazone mixtures.

Using these latter methods, it was found that pentoses were excreted in both muscular dystrophy and normal urines. Evidence is presented that explains the widely divergent results obtained by others in attempting to confirm Minot's work using the osazone test.