[Tryptophan loading and its plasma concentration in neurosurgical patients]

Tests for blood plasma tryptophan in patients with various diseases of the nervous system showed a statistically significant increase of its content in tumors of the astrocytic series in patients with meningiomas and oligodendrogliomas. The character of the tryptophan excretion curve after a load in neurooncological patients was different from that in healthy individuals and patients with thrombosis of the sinus and arachnoencephalitis. Hydrocortisone injection normalized the tryptophan curve in patients and, consequently, also the tryptophanpyrrolase reaction which is evidently disturbed in neurooncological patients.