Isotope Studies of Uric Acid Metabolism During Dietary Purine Administration

Uric acid is excreted by the kidneys and intestinal tract, while other routes are negligible. By addition of purines to a purine-free or low purine diet changes in uric acid turnover and excretion occur, which cannot be investigated by metabolic balance methods as that part of the uric acid turnover secreted into the gut is completely destroyed by the intestinal flora (Sorensen, 1960). We therefore studied uric acid pool size and turnover in normal subjects both during a purine-free diet and during purine supplementation by stable isotope methods.