Investigations concerning vitamin A transport in rheumatic diseases.

The investigation concerned changes in vitamin A derivatives (retinol and retinyl) content in serum of patients suffering from two types of rheumatic diseases--rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthrosis. Healthy women of similar age served as control. It was found that the retinol content of the serum in the group suffering from RA was significantly (P less than 0.001) lower than that of the control group, while in the group suffering from osteoarthrosis it was significantly higher (P less than 0,01). The serum retinol content of the group with RA was similar and was not an effect of the corticosteroid treatment. Significant differences were found (P less than 0,01) between the groups suffering from RA and osteoarthrosis in the serum content of the retinol. The retinyl content of the serum showed a significant (P less than 0.05) difference between the groups afflicted with RA and osteoarthrosis.