Excretion of galactitol in the urine of heterozygotes of both forms of galactosemia.

In 36 heterozygotes with Gal-1-PUT deficiency and 3 heterozygotes with galactokinase deficiency galactitol (and galactose) was determined in the urine 2 and 4 h after an intravenous injection of 350 mg galactose/kg body weight (maximum dosis in adults 16 g). For the sake of comparison 10 healthy children and 5 adults, also 4 homozygotes with Gal-1-PUT deficiency and one sick child with galactokinase deficiency were included in this study. The heterozygotes with Gal-1-PUT deficiency demonstrated the same galactitol excretion as the healthy probands, while heterozygotes with galactokinase deficiency excreted a four-fold higher quantity of galactitol than the healthy and heterozygous probands of Gal-1-PUT deficiency. The child with the galactokinase deficiency excreted galactitol for a period of more than 24 h. These results are discussed.