[Changes in the blood uric acid levels in patients with retinitis pigmentosa and in rats with hereditary retinal degeneration].

The content of uric acid was measured in the blood of patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, as well as in the blood, retina, brain, liver and urine of rats with inherited retinal degeneration in the course of postnatal development. It was found that in the patients with retinitis pigmentosa, the concentration of uric acid in the blood serum was 50% higher as compared to normals. On the 8th day of life the content of uric acid in the blood of the sick rats was equal to 150% as compared to the normal animals. This difference persisted during the subsequent postnatal life. In the rats with inherited retinal degeneration, the content of this purine in the retina, brain and liver was approximately the same as that seen in the normal animals in all the studied periods of life. Meanwhile statistically significant changes in the uric acid content in the sick animals' urine appeared at an age of 1.5-2 months. It is believed that the identical line of changes in the uric acid content in the blood of the sick persons and rats points to similarity of the experimental disease of the animals to the disease in humans.