Metabolic Disorders Leading to Mental Deficiency

Abstract

A new approach is described for the detection of abnormal metabolites in the urine of patients with known or suspected metabolic disorders. Distribution curves are presented for nonurea organic carbon and nitrogen which form a basis for judging whether grossly abnormal amounts of organic materials are present in the urine. Families with recurrent mental retardation have been identified whose mental defect may be on an unknown metabolic basis.