Antipyrine metabolism in the Venda

The excretion of antipyrine metabolites over 48 h as percentage dose and the antipyrine kel and metabolite formation rate constants have been measured for 20 healthy Venda Africans. To allow comparison with published data from inter-ethnic studies with antipyrine, subjects were selected who had assumed a western life and diet. The values (mean +/- SE) for excretion of the metabolites, 4-hydroxyantipyrine (4OHA), norantipyrine (NORA) and 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine (3HMA) as percentage dose were 26.17 +/- 0.34, 7.44 +/- 0.34 and 13.28 +/- 0.31 respectively. The total of the three metabolites was 49.56 +/- 0.33. These results differ significantly from the values found for groups of Canadian students of Oriental and Caucasian backgrounds. The values (mean +/- SE) found for the antipyrine elimination rate constant and the metabolite formation rate constants of 4OHA, NORA and 3OHA were 6.56 (+/- 0.56) X 10(-2), 2.05 (+/- 0.24) X 10(-2), 0.60 (+/- 0.09) X 10(-2) and 1.06 (+/- 0.16) X 10(-2) respectively. Only the NORA formation rate constant showed any significant difference with the results obtained for Americans, although the Venda exhibited a wider distribution of the 3HMA data. The linearity of the probit plots obtained suggest that the subjects selected are homozygous for the oxidations investigated. The marked difference found in comparison with Caucasian and Oriental data on the one hand and American data on the other, also implies a marked difference between the Caucasian and Oriental data and the American data.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)