Abstract
In 46 patients of various diseases, chiefly of tuberculosis, the urine at early morning and after intravenous injection of 100mg. of ascorbic acid were used for the determination of ascorbic acid and the detection of phenylalanine. The results indicated that the ascorbic acid contents of the urine at early morning was distinctly less as compared with that of control healthy subjects, and more than half of the patients were suffering from severe avitaminosis. The amount of ascorbic acid in the urine in seven hours after the parenteral administration of the vitamin was also less than that of control subjects. Phenylalanine in the urine was positive in 30% of the patients, and especially in a chronic nephritis with nephrosis it was remarkably positive, and the amount of ascorbic acid in the urine after the administration of the vitamin was also small. Thus there may be exist some correlation between the asorbic acid content and the appearance of phenylalanine in the urine.
