SUMMARY The free primary amines present in the faeces of 44 infants (1-18 months) with gastroenteritis have been examined by field desorption mass spectrometry of the lactone form of their fluorescamine derivatives without their prior separation. p-Tyramine, 2-phenylethylamine, the diamines, putrescine and cadaverine and several of their acyl derivatives were common constituents, but a number of other amines were also characterised. Using thin layer chromatography and field desorption mass spectrometry of the amine dansyl derivatives a comparative study was made of the faecal amines of 13 selected infants with gastroenteritis (diarrhoea) and of 13 healthy infants. p-Tyramine, the most abundant amine, was significantly higher (p=002) in the sick infants. The overall presence of p-tyramine was more significantly related to the diet of the infants. Faecal tyramine was low in breast fed infants but significantly higher (p=0.01) in infants fed cow's milk.In the CSIRO Division of Food Research, studies are proceeding on the effect of certain food constituents on the gut microflora including their role in amine production. Apart from conclusions inferred from urinary amine analysis, little is published concerning the production in vivo of amines by the human gut microflora. As exploratory studies to develop methodology and to obtain basic data, we elected to examine the production of amines in the gut as reflected by their presence in the faeces of sick and healthy infants. The choice of subjects was made because of the ready availability of specimens from the hospital environment. In this paper we describe, firstly, the result of screening by field desorption mass spectrometry of amines as their fluorescamine derivatives in the faeces of 44 infants hospitalised with gastroenteritis and secondly, a comparative study by thin layer chromatography and field desorption mass spectrometry of the faecal amines as their dansyl derivatives in 13 diarrhoetic and 13 healthy infants.Methods

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