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ANDRE C. KIBRICK, HELEN L. POWER, ELISABETH SEVENDAL, ADE T. MILHORAT, Prednisone Effect on Urinary Excretion of Hydroxyproline in Patients with Muscular Dystrophy, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 28, Issue 8, 1 August 1968, Pages 1113–1119, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-28-8-1113
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Abstract
Prednisone was administered orally in daily dosages of 10–20 rag to 8 dystrophic patients varying in age from 7 yr, 9 months, to 19 yr, 7 months, and urinary total hydroxyproline was determined every 1 or 2 weeks during the control period and during administration of prednisone in 1 to 3 periods which varied from 2 weeks to 7 months each. All the younger patients between the ages of 7 and 14 showed a decrease in hydroxyproline excretion of 50 to 75% in every period of prednisone administration. The oldest patient, who was 20, showed essentially no decrease in hydroxyproline excretion during daily administration of 20 mg for 2 months. This is consistent with findings in rats in which young animals have a marked reduction after prednisone administration, whereas old animals show little effect from the corticosteroid. The urine of 6 of the patients was analyzed also for prolylhydroxyproline both in the control period and in the period of treatment with prednisone. In all the patients the percentage of total hydroxyproline was essentially the same, about 50%, for both periods. In the Discussion, this is interpreted as indicating that prednisone does not affect significantly the manner in which collagen is degraded for excretion in muscular dystrophy, and that the reduction in total urinary hydroxyproline effected by the corticosteroid is merely a reflection of the reduced amount of collagen that is degraded from salt-soluble (newly synthesized) and mature collagen. Furthermore, it is also probable that in normal children the reduction of urinary hydroxyproline effected by administration of prednisone is a reflection of the reduced amount of collagen that is degraded and not a result of the manner in which collagen is degraded after the corticosteroid.
