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After the discovery of PKU as a cause of mental retardation, Horst Bickel and colleagues discovered that it could be treated successfully with a diet low in phenylalanine. [7] The main drawback in successful treatment of PKU was the delay in identifying affected individuals. The common test for PKU at the time was mixing urine with ferric chloride.
The result of the trial diet on a young PKU patient led to significant clinical improvement. [7] In 1957, Woolf and colleagues recommended mass screening for PKU using a ferric chloride test on urine samples from newborn babies. They emphasised the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, proposing screening at 21 days after birth.
Ferric chloride test (detects abnormal metabolites in urine) Ninhydrin paper chromatography (detects abnormal amino acid patterns) Guthrie test (detects excessive amounts of specific amino acids in blood) The dried blood spot can be used for multianalyte testing using Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS). This given an indication for a disorder.
The ferric chloride test is used to determine the presence of phenols in a given sample or compound (for instance natural phenols in a plant extract). Enols , hydroxamic acids , oximes, and sulfinic acids give positive results as well. [ 1 ]
The normal level of phenyl alanine in plasma is 1–2 mg/dl and in PKU, it normally ranges between 20–65 mg/dl. The main test for confirmation of PKU is the Guthrie test, which is a Bacillus subtilis Bioassay. [citation needed] Phenyl pyruvate in urine can also be detected using Ferric Chloride test. [citation needed]
PKU was the first disorder to be routinely diagnosed through widespread newborn screening. Robert Guthrie introduced the newborn screening test for PKU in the early 1960s. [67] With the knowledge that PKU could be detected before symptoms were evident, and treatment initiated, screening was quickly adopted around the world.
The blood of a two-week-old infant is collected for a Phenylketonuria, or PKU, screening. The neonatal heel prick is a blood collection procedure done on newborns. It consists of making a pinprick puncture in one heel of the newborn to collect their blood. This technique is used frequently as the main way to collect blood from neonates.
Hyperphenylalaninemia most is commonly diagnosed by newborn screening and must be distinguished from classic PKU by confirmatory testing at an experienced center. Some cases in adult women have been detected using maternal screening programs or following birth of children with birth defects.