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SUMMARY: Pretreatment of Escherichia coli w3110 with levorphanol, a morphine analogue, reduced chemotaxis to serine, aspartic acid and galactose. This decreased chemotaxis was not due to decreased viability or motility. Pretreatment with 1.1 mM-levorphanol for 1 h, followed by washing to remove the drug prior to determination of chemotaxis, inhibited chemotaxis to each of the attractants by at least 80%. Pretreatment with dextrorphan, the enantiomorph of levorphanol, or levallorphan, the N-allyl analogue of levorphanol, resulted in a similar inhibition of chemotaxis. Reversal of the inhibition produced by pretreatment with levorphanol required a period of growth of at least one generation time.

Increased erythrocyte PRPP content and enhanced in vitro erythrocyte PRPP generation was found in two gouty brothers having excessive uric acid production and normal erythrocyte HGPRT activity. The transmission of the metabolic defect in this family is compatible with the recessive X -linked mode of inheritance.