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Phenytoin-parahydroxylation capacity was determined in 24 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 17 controls. Different function of the phenytoin-metabolizing cytochrome P450 subsystem was found in 6 patients, but in none of the controls. These results add to previous studies suggesting a relation between the pathogenesis of PD and the function of cytochrome P450 subsystems.

A case history is presented of a patient who developed a severe phenytoin intoxication on a "therapeutic" dose of 300 mg/day. This phenomenon could be ascribed to a poor oxidative metabolizing capacity of this patient for phenytoin, as demonstrated by a low para-hydroxyphenyl-phenylhydantoin to phenytoin ratio in the urine. To characterize the specificity of this metabolic defect, debrisoquine and antipyrine oxidation were also studied. Contrary to expectations, this patient was shown to be an extensive debrisoquine metabolizer; the antipyrine clearance was even higher than normal. These findings suggest that phenytoin para-hydroxylation is regulated by an oxidative enzyme complex different from those which oxidize debrisoquine and antipyrine.

The mode of inheritance of insufficient phenytoin p-hydroxylation was studied in the family of a patient who had previously suffered from a phenytoin intoxication caused by insufficient metabolism of this drug. This family was compared with a control group. The rate of phenytoin metabolism was derived from the phenytoin/metabolite ratio in serum 6 hours after an oral test dose of 300 mg phenytoin. The propositus, a brother and a sister, were very slow metabolizers of phenytoin, with a metabolic ratio of approximately 20. In the other individuals, 22 family members of the second generation and 37 control subjects, a metabolic ratio of 4.7 +/- 2.2 (mean +/- SD; n = 59) was found. When comparing the members of the second generation (F2) with the control group, two statistically significantly different groups appear to exist: F2, with a metabolic ratio of 6.6 +/- 1.7 (mean +/- SD; n = 22), and the control group, with a metabolic ratio of 3.7 +/- 1.8 (mean +/- SD; n = 37) (p less than 0.001). Based on these results the mode of inheritance of this defect seems to be autosomal recessive.