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Studies in Human Physiology

V. Urine Chemistry; Comparison of 24-Hour and Short-Period, Basal Excretion; Correlations Retween Urine Constituents and Menstrual and Seasonal Variation

Two Figures

Laboratories of Biochemistry and of Physiology, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York

This is a continuation of reports already made (Griffith et al., '29) for basal metabolic rate and respiratory and cardiovascular functions in an attempt to define the variability and correlation of intra-individual variations over a course of time.

This report deals with the excretion of the principal nitrogen components of the urine, together with sugar, organic and total acid, phosphate and chloride.

Comparison is provided of the rate of excretion in 24-hour urines with that of short-period, morning urines under basal conditions.

By their coefficients of variation the relative constancy of excretion of these urinary components is established, 1) with respect to each other; and, 2) with respect to the other functions previously reported upon. As usual, the women of the group prove to be more variable than the men.

Coefficients of correlation are given which provide a measure of the interrelationship between, 1) the various urinary constituents themselves and, 2) between them and the simultaneous variations of basal metabolic rate.

Menstruation clearly affects the excretion of all these substances, with the exception, perhaps, of creatine and uric acid. Urea, creatinine, amino acid, total and undetermined nitrogen, volume, sugar and chloride are excreted in minimal amounts at about the time of menstruation and rise to a maximum in the latter half of the intermenstrual period. This is the type of variation previously observed in the women of this group for the oral temperature, pulse and basal metabolic rate. Ammonia and possibly organic and total acid and phosphate are roughly the reciprocal of this and show minimal excretion toward the middle of the intermenstrual period. This is shown to correlate with the previous findings in respect to menstrual variations in alveolar carbon dioxid pressure, blood alkali reserve and pulmonary ventilation. These correlations provide an integrated and more complete picture of physiological variation during menstruation than has been available hitherto.

There was apparently no seasonal variation for most of the components of the 24-hour urines. On the other hand, the total nitrogen and most of its partition products and volume and chloride of the short-period, basal urines are definitely excreted at a minimum during the late summer or early fall, with maxima in the winter. This is precisely the type of seasonal variation shown by the averages for this same group for body weight and basal pulse and metabolic rate. Exceptions to this type of variation are total and organic acids and, possibly, ammonia, which seem to be excreted at a minimum in the spring and maximum in the late summer or early fall, a pattern observed by many of the functions we have studied and which will be discussed in greater detail in the following report of this series.

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