Amino acid dynamics in urine of S. haematobium patients in Ishielu local government area of Ebonyi state, Nigeria

Abstract

The Amino acid dynamics in urine samples of Schistosoma haematobium patients were studied The study was to evaluate the possibility and validity of using amino acid patterns recorded in highly, lightly and uninfected urines as diagnostic tool for rapid screening of Schistosomiasis Paper chromatography was used to separate the different amino acids in the urine samples. The chromatographic method used in this study revealed the existence of 9 essential and 7 nonessential amino acids in the urine samples. It equally showed that histidine, glutamine, serine and proline were absent in all the urine samples. Furthermore the presence of two marker amino acids can be used to identify individuals with heavy infection (cystein) and no infection (methionine).

Keywords: Amino acids, Rapid diagnosis, Schistosomiasis, S. haematobium, Ebonyi State