Abstract
Idiopathic hyperglycinemia which was discovered by Childs et al. is thought to be an inherited metabolic disorder. There is, however, no evidence that the disorder is genetically determined.
Our investigation was made on glycine metabolism in the parents of a patient with this particular disorder. The fasting level of glycine and ratio of glycine to serine in serum were found to be significantly higher in the parents than in controls. Glycine loading test (0.5g/kg) indicated that the parents had to some extent a handicap of glycine utilization as compared with control individuals. These results suggest that the parents are probably heterozygous for the disorder.
