[Tryptophan metabolism in patients with vitiligo]

Our previous research showed that tryptophan is an important precursor in the biogenesis of melanins. Therefore, with the purpose of observing whether a relationship exists between tryptophan metabolism and diseases characterized by an altered process of skin pigmentation in man, we studied the metabolism of this aminoacid along the kynurenine pathway in 29 vitiliginous patients (11 males and 18 females) and in 21 control subjects (11 males and 10 females) by determining 10 urinary metabolites after an oral loading of 50 mg/kg body weight L-tryptophan. The mean total excretion of the metabolites in patients resulted similar to that of the controls. However, considering the individual metabolites one can observe a decreased excretion of 3-hydroxykynurenine, o-aminohippuric acid and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid and an increased excretion of xanthurenic acid and of its 8-methyl ether in the group of vitiliginous patients in respect to the controls. These results seem to indicate a decreased formation of nicotinic acid from tryptophan. Moreover, in relation to the fact that 3-hydroxykynurenine could be the metabolite through which tryptophan is involved in melanin biosynthesis, this study supports the hypothesis of a connection of tryptophan metabolism with the lack of pigmentation in vitiligo.