Excretion of Hydrogen Peroxide in Human Urine

Abstract

The excretion of hydrogen peroxide in human urine has been demonstrated for the first time. This was accomplished by a new radioactive method developed on the basis of decarboxylation of alpha-ketoglutaric acid by H2 O2. Urine samples were incubated with alpha ketoglutarate pulsed with iwts 1 -14C-analogue, and CO2 formed by decarboxylation was determined by radioactivity measurements. Blanks were prepared by pre-incubation of the samples with catalase. Both male and female subjects were studied. On an average the concentration of H2 O2 in urine was approximately 100 ± 60 μM(10-4 M) Peroxide excretion was found to be unexpectedly high and might thus be useful for clinical diagnosis and therapy in diseases purported to be related to oxidative stress.