The only known naturally occurring copper-containing porphyrin was discovered almost 100 years ago by Church (1) who isolated this material from the tail and wing feathers of 16 species of the African touraco bird (Musophagidae). At that time, he noted that this red, base-soluble pigment, which he called turacin, contained 7% copper and that the feathers from which it was derived represented a ...

Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were isolated which were blocked in heme biosynthesis and required heme for growth on a nonfermentable carbon source. They were rho+, and grew fermentatively on ergosterol or cholesterol and Tween 80, as a source of oleic acid. Cells grown on ergosterol and Tween 80 lacked cytochromes and catalase which were restored by growth on heme. The mutants comprised f...

A case of pseudoporphyria associated with excessive consumption of brewers ' yeast was studied. Detailed analysis of the yeast tablets by high performance liquid chromatography showed the presence of dicarboxylic deuteroporphyrin , mesoporphyrin, and protoporphyrin; coproporphyrin I and III isomers; and uroporphyrin I and III isomers. The faecal porphyrin concentration of the patient taking yea...

Two Thai women who are siblings presented with a history of recurrent pruritic vesicles on dorsum of both hands and extensor surface of forearms where the sun-exposed areas are. The excoriated vesicles were healed with depressed scars. They had no previous history of intense abdominal pain, seizure, or psychiatric disorder Urinary porphyrins were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatograp...

We describe a rapid quantitative and qualitative "high-performance" liquid-chromatographic (HPLC) method for measuring porphyrins in urine. Direct injection of acidified, filtered urine onto a 3-micron (particle size) 3-cm-long reversed-phase column fully resolves uroporphyrin, hepta-, hexa-, and pentacarboxylic acid porphyrins, and coproporphyrin. Instrument response is linearly related to con...

The efficacy of the H2 receptor antagonist, cimetidine, in the treatment of a patient with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) was evaluated. After administration of cimetidine for 2 weeks, urinary excretion of uroporphyrin (UP) and coproporphyrin (CP) was significantly decreased. Urinary porphyrin levels remained low even after the cessation of cimetidine for 1 week. Although the readministration of...

Activity of the enzyme uroporphyrinogen III cosynthetase in hemolysates from five patients with congenital erythropoietic porphyria was much lower than the activity in control samples. The low cosynthetase activity in patients was not due to the presence of a free inhibitor or some competing enzymatic activity, because hemolysates from porphyric subjects did not interfere either with the cosynt...