Urinary excretion of desmosine in patients with severe burns

Urinary excretion of total desmosine was measured by a radioimmunoassay in severely burned adult males, as well as in normal adult males. Total urinary desmosine was significantly elevated in all the samples in the burned patients, who had injuries involving more than 19% of total body surface area. The values of 24-hr urinary desmosine for the burned patients ranged from 250--1,411 nmoles, as compared with 82--142 nmoles for normal controls. These were equivalent to 14--78 mg of elastin degraded for the burned patients and 5--8 mg for normal controls. Urinary desmosine values expressed as nmoles per g of creatinine were also higher than the corresponding normal values, ranging from 110--768 nmoles versus 63 +/- 6 nmoles for normal controls. Urinary excretion of total hydroxyproline in the burned patients was also higher than in normal controls, ranging from 56--471 mg per 24 hrs, or 36 to 413 mg per g of creatinine, vs. 31 +/- 6 mg per 24 hr, or 23 +/- 2 mg per g of creatinine, in burned patients and normal controls, respectively. These values of hydroxyproline were equivalent to 413--3,623 mg of collagen and 238 mg of collagen, respectively. In the burned patients, both urinary desmosine and hydroxyproline values were elevated from day 1 post-burn, and reached peak levels in days 2--12, declining thereafter but remaining higher than values for normal controls through day 60. The metabolism of elastin and collagen in skin of burned patients was probably highly accelerated for a long time, at least through day 60 post-burn.