Elevated glutamic acid values in a malnourished patient. A case report.

Routine serum and cerebrospinal (CSF) amino acid estimations were carried out on a patient with pellagra and malnutrition. Urea levels were low and serum and CSF ammonia levels elevated. A remarkable observation was that the serum glutamic acid level rose to 44.9 times normal, which is far higher than any value reported in the medical literature. At this stage no explanation for this rise is known. Similarly no explanation can be given for the posttreatment elevation of the CSF proline levels to 13.8 times above normal.