Polyamine metabolism in Menkes kinky hair disease.

Clinical investigations of the urinary excretion of putrescine and the polyamines spermidine and spermine in a patient with Menkes kinky hair disease are reported. This disorder, characterized by intra- and extracellular copper deficiency, is associated with significant depression of diamine oxidase and monoamine oxidase activity. Urinary excretion of diamine and polyamines, monitored over a 2-month interval in a 4-month old patient with Menkes kinky hair disease, documented a 3- to 10-fold increase in the excretion of free putrescine, spermidine and spermine as well as the conjugated derivatives of putrescine and spermidine. These observations suggest that abnormalities in diamine and polyamine concentration occur in disease states in which the metabolic transformation of these compounds is impaired.