The authors have previously discussed urine pyrroles as a diagnostic aid in health and disease.12 Dr. Hugh Riordan has been using urine pyrrole results as a diagnostic aid in his practice for over 25 years.

Urine pyrroles, depending on the article you read, has several names; mauve factor, kryptopyrrole, hemopyrrole, indole, and hydroxyhemopyrrolenone.3 The origin of pyrroles is also confusin? They were first described in the urine of patients undergoing experimental LSD psychosis and in the urine of patients with various mental illness, including 60 percent of chronic schizophrenic patients (see Editorial, this issue). Urine pyrroles were said to come from amino sugars and the metabolism of N-acetylneurominic acid in the central nervous system, an abnormal side product in the synthesis ofporphyrins, bile pigment, or an oxidation product of hemopyrrole and/or bilirubin.4 Given all this confusion, what is the clinical value of pyrroles as a diagnostic aid? Howpyrrotes are produced and appear in the urine is still unclear. Dr. Pfeiffer reported that pyrroles combined chemically with vitamin Ba to remove it from the body in a way similar to penicillamine and inositol hexaniacinate (INH). He treated schizophrenics with large doses of vitamin B6 and zinc and observed significant improvement in their conditions. This treatment has been duplicated in many other studies with equally positive results.

At The Center, we feel that the data tend to support a theory that many different types of physiological and/or psycho- logical stress, other than schizophrenia, may cause the excretion of a large amount of pyrroles in the urine.