Fate of N-Methylnicotinamide in Man

Abstract

FOLLOWING the discovery that N-methylnicotinamide is a metabolite of nicotinic acid¹, the fate of this compound in the animal body has been studied by several workers. Perlzweig and Huff² found that only 10–20 per cent of a dose of N-methylnicotinamide administered orally to human beings could be recovered in the urine, and concluded that N-methylnicotinamide is not the final metabolite of nicotinic acid, but is further metabolized into unidentified products. Ellinger³ studied the fæcal excretion of N-methylnicotinamide by the rat and discovered that after the ingestion of N-methylnicotinamide the fæcal output of this compound was sometimes increased and sometimes not ; on no occasion was more than 10 per cent of a dose recovered in the fæces. Ellinger showed that N-methylnicotinamide is destroyed when incubated with rat fæces. He also demonstrated that N-methylnicotinamide is present in rat bile, and he suggested that the portion of a dose of N-methylnicotinamide which is not recovered in the urine and in the fæces may be eliminated with the bile into the intestines and there destroyed by the intestinal flora.