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Determination of urine thiocyanate in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Yoshida Y.,
Hamada R.,
Kamitsuchibashi H.,
Yamamoto K.,
Nakagawa M.,
Izumo S.,
Higuchi I.,
Soejima Y.,
Osame M.,
Igata A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1989.tb03907.x
Subject(s) - thiocyanate , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , chemistry , cyanide , urine , parkinsonism , medicine , excretion , urinary system , endocrinology , biochemistry , disease , organic chemistry
— It has been reported that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis‐Parkinsonism‐dementia in Guam might be related to the eating of Cycas seeds, which contain cyanide. Based on this assumption, we determined the urinary thiocyanate excretion level in patients with ALS and compared this with that of other neurological diseases. The assay method was designed to use column chromatography with Amberlite IRA 402. The thiocyanate level was determined using the pyridine‐barbiturate method. The 24‐h thiocyanate level was higher in the ALS patients of the middle stages than in the normal control group (Wilcoxon's test, P <0.02). There were no significant differences between the ALS patient groups of the early and terminal stages, Kugelberg‐Welander disease group, Duchenne type muscular dystrophy group and control group. From these results, we concluded that ALS patients were contaminated with cyanide or thiocyanate and that, along with rapid muscular atrophy, the thiocyanate excretion levels were high.