The determination of prostaglandin metabolites in human urine.

A method has been developed in which the human urinary prostaglandin metabolites are converted into stable prostanoic and prostanediotic acid homologues. The urine is reduced with sodium borohydride and the organic compounds, isolated with an Amberlite XAD-2 column, are treated with fuming hydrogen iodide, followed by treatment with zinc in methanolic hydrogen chloride, to yield dimethyl tetranorprostanedioate as the major product of human prostaglandin metabolism. This compound is determined by gas chromatography, after a single purification by thin layer chromatography. The excretion of total tetranorprostanedioic acid derivatives in healthy subjects was found to be 0.21 plus and minus 0.08 mg per g of creatinine or 0.3 plus and minus 0.01 mg per 24 hours.