Determination of N tau-methylhistamine in urine by gas chromatography using nitrogen-phosphorus detection

The determination of N tau-methylhistamine in urine, using gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detection and the homologue N tau-ethylhistamine as internal standard, is described. A comparison between the present method and a previously described stable isotope dilution mass fragmentographic method resulted in a regression line of Y = 0.023 + 0.944X mumol/l with a correlation coefficient of 0.996. The 24-h excretions of 35 normal adults on a free diet ranged from 0.4 to 1.8 mumol. Patients with mastocytosis, chronic myelocytic leukemia, anaphylactic reactions and a patient after bronchial provocation showed above normal values.