Lecithin treatment in Friedreich's ataxia.

Abstract

Duration in monthsSerial observations of plasma creatinine concentrations in high haemolytic complement (CH50) and control groups during three years of prospective study.Conversion: SI to traditional units-Creatinine: 1 jsmol/ll 0 01 mg/ 100 ml.normal during this period.There was a progressive upward trend in CH50 activity with rise in plasma creatinine concentration, which did not quite achieve significance.This suggested that CH60 activity increases with declin- ing renal function.To test this we studied CHr0 activity and C3 and C4 concentrations in 20 patients with renal failure due to polycystic kidneys or essential hypertension, all with plasma creatinine concentrations above 600 tsmol/l (6-8 mg/100 ml).CH50 activity was within normal limits in all, show- ing that renal failure alone does not affect CH50.C3 and C4 concentrations were also normal in all.The fluctuations in CH50 activity in this group with active nephritis are unexplained.We measured CH50, C3, and C4 values in 10 healthy volunteers daily for five days and monthly for a year.The fluctuations were much smaller than those in our hypercomplementaemic patients, and all remained within the normal range.The wide fluctuations in our high-complement group were therefore an aberration.Concentrations of C3 and C4 did not differ between our two groups of patients or between the patients and controls.They did not exhibit the same fluctuations as CH50.We found no correlation between raised CH50 activity and histological diagnosis, except that no patient with minimal change had raised CH50 activity.