Pharmacological Reviews, Vol 11, 416-425, Copyright © 1959 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

METABOLIC PRODUCTS OF ADRENALINE AND NORADRENALINE IN HUMAN URINE¹

¹ Research Center and Hospital, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

1. dl-Adrenaline-2-C¹⁴ and dl-noradrenaline-2-C¹⁴ were infused in 12 healthy males and the urine collected hourly thereafter for 24 hours.

2. The urinary catabolites of adrenaline and of noradrenaline were separated by means of a combination of ion exchange and paper chromatography. Radioactivity of each catabolite was measured with a thin window Geiger tube and corrected to infinite thinness.

3. After an infusion of labeled adrenaline, 73 ± 2% of the radioactivity was recovered in 24 hours, and after an infusion of labeled noradrenaline, 67 ± 4% of the radioactivity was recovered in 24 hours.

4. Distribution of radioactivity in the 24-hour urine following an infusion of labeled adrenaline was: adrenaline, 4 ± 0%; metadrenaline, 5 ± 0%; unidentified compound, 1 ± 0%; metadrenaline conjugate fraction, 42 ± 3%; 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid, 27 ± 2%; 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid plus unidentified compound, 12 ± 2%.

5. Distribution of radioactivity in the 24-hour urine following an infusion of labeled noradrenaline was: noradrenaline, 4 ± 1%; normetadrenaline, 3 ± 1%; unidentified compound, 2 ± 1%; normetadrenaline conjugate, 19 ± 2%; unidentified compound, 10 ± 2%; 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid, 32 ± 2%; 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid plus two unidentified compounds, 11 ± 2% and 13 ± 2%.

6. The role of the metabolic products of noradrenaline as a possible barometer of the physiological functioning of the sympathetic nervous system is discussed.