Urinary excretion of hydroxylysine and its glycosides in Alport's syndrome and several other glomerulopathies.

Alport's syndrome probably is a molecular disorder of basement membrane composition. Investigation of urine on basement membrane components such as hydroxylysine and its glycosides, glucosylgalactosylhydroxylysine and galactosylhydroxylysine, may be helpful for diagnosis of the disease. Urinary specimens of 33 patients and 12 siblings were investigated, and the results were compared with those of 14 healthy adults and of 29 healthy children. The urine of patients with glomerulopathies, occurring during childhood (IgA nephropathy, benign recurrent hematuria, poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis, Henoch-Schönlein nephropathy, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and nephrotic syndrome due to minimal lesions), was also investigated. No marked differences between normal and diseased subjects could be demonstrated, with respect to excretion of hydroxylysine and its glycosides, in contrast to data reported in the literature.