CHANGES IN URINARY URIC ACID-CREATININE RATIO AFTER ELECTRICALLY INDUCED CONVULSIONS IN MAN

Abstract

The urinary excretion of uric acid is increased after electrically induced convulsions in man; this change is usually maximal approx. 4 hrs. after admn. of electroshock and thereby resembles findings in man after the injn. of adrenocortitrophic hormone (ACTH). Excretion of creatinine also increases, but this is often most marked during the first 2 hrs. after shock. Thr urinary uric acid-creatinine ratio, therefore, remains unchanged or may fall at first, after which it rises to a level usually well above the control; in some instances, however, the late rise is not very large. The conditions of the present study are so different from those encountered by Thorn, Forsham et al. when they proposed that changes in the ratio 4 hrs. after injn. of ACTH be used as a test of adrenal cortical function, that precise interpretation of the present findings is difficult. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the changes in ratio 4 hrs. after electroshock, together with other evidence cited here, indicates increased production of 11-oxyster-oids.