METABOLISM IN NEPHRITIS 



331 



duce the uric acid and urea figures in the blood to a normal level while the 

 creatinin remains high. 



TABLE 14 

 URIC ACID, UREA NITROGEN AND CREATININ OF BLOOD IN NEPHRITIS. (Chace and Myers) (6) 



Normal findings: uric acid from 2 to 3 mg. ; urea nitrogen, from 12 to 15 mg. ; oreatinin, fvi.in i 

 to 2.5 mg. per 100 c.c. 



Amino Acids in Nephritis 



It has been established largely through the efforts of Van Slyke(<i) and 

 his collaborators that the proteins, after being separated into their con- 

 stituent amino acids in the intestine, pass to the liver in the portal cir- 

 culation where many of them are changed to urea ; some of them are ab- 

 sorbed and stored in the liver and others pass on to the muscles to be 

 ?tored there. It has become apparent that the amino acids, as they occur 

 in the tissues, are substances that are either destined for the synthesis of 

 protein or represent waste material resulting from protein catabolism. 

 When protein disintegration does occur, the amino acids are not neces- 

 sarily increased in the blood (Whipple and Van Slyke(a)). In a recent 

 study of acute yellow atrophy, Stadie and Van Slyke concluded that under 

 ordinary circumstances the liver can deaminize any amount of amino acids 

 present in the circulation, even if there is an extensive breakdown of 

 protein material, and that abnormal amounts of amino acids result only 

 when the destruction of the liver cells is almost complete. These conclu- 

 sions would point to lesions in the liver in case the amino acids increased 



