Postmortem changes of uric acid in various rat tissues: determination of uric acid by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

As a function of time after decapitation, postmortem changes of uric acid in various rat tissues have been studied by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The chromatographic examination revealed that uric acid in rat tissues such as brain, liver, musculus rectus abdominis, and femoral muscle tends to increase after decapitation as a function of time between the sacrifice and homogenization in a 2.0% metaphosphoric acid solution.