Studies on tryptophan metabolism in ethylism

The urinary excretion of the metabolites "via kynurenine" was studied in a group of patients with chronic alcoholism after a L-tryptophan loading (100 mg/kg body-weight) with or without simultaneous administration of vitamin B6 or nicotinamide or both. In these subjects an abnormal tryptophan metabolism was obtained with excretion total mean values of 9 metabolites of 15.34% against 6.86% in healthy controls. The treatment with vitamin B6 or nicotinamide in 5 patients decreased the total average excretion from 14.41% to 9.47% and to 9.92% respectively without normalizing, however, the excretory pattern produced from the aminoacid loading. The simultaneous administration of these two vitamins in 9 chronic alcoholic men corrected completely the metabolic defect (from 15.34% to 6.55%).