Noradrenaline Output in Urine After Infusion in Man

Noradrenaline is normally excreted in human urine in amounts of some 20-40 jg.per day (Kroneberg and Schumann, 1950; Euler and Hellner, 1951a).Under certain conditions the output is increased, e.g., during heavy muscular work (Euler and Hellner, 1951b) and in phaeochromocytoma (Engel and Euler, 1950), where it may attain values of more than 2,000 jig.per day.In order to study the excretion in relation to administered noradrenaline in man we have infused the hormone at a fixed rate intravenously and analysed the urine for noradrenaline and adrenaline.Six experiments were carried out on four subjects.Cases 1 and 2 were patients with morbus Addison and subjects 3 and 4 were healthy medical students, whose co-operation is gratefully acknowledged.dl-Noradrenaline hydrochloride, dissolved in normal saline, was infused intravenously at a rate of 16.4-28 tug.per mtn.Urine was collected for a period immediately before infusion, during infusion, and, in two experiments, immediately after infusion.The catechol amines from the urine were prepared and analysed according to the method of Euler and Hellner (195la).The recovery of noradrenaline and adrenaline can be estimated at about 70 per cent.