[State of the reserve pathway of adenine nucleotide synthesis in the erythrocytes of white rats with vitamin A deficiency].

In spite of the fact that vitamin A exerts an obvious effect on cell membrane permeability, the specific mechanisms of vitamin A participation in stabilizing the cell membrane remain unclear. Therefore studies on the effect vitamin A produces on the main and reserve pathways of the synthesis of adenylnucleotides are of great importance. The experiments on Wistar rats showed that under vitamin A deficiency the content of ATP and ADP in red cells dramatically changed as compared to that in control animals. The ADP content rose by 28% while ATP content dropped down by 33%. Following 14C-adenine administration to the test animals, the label incorporation rate into ADP increased and that into ATP declined. Investigations of the variations produced led to revealing an increase in the activity of phosphatases: Mg2+, Na+, K+-ATPase, K+, Na+-ATPase, Mg2-ATPase.