Biochemistry of Uric Acid and Its Relation to Gout

Interrelation of Carbohydrate and Urate MetabolismPurine metabolism is related both directly and indirectly to carbohydrate metabolism. A direct relation is found in the origin of the ribose moiety of the purine nucleotide from glucose by way of the ribose compound, phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) (Fig. 4). Gouty subjects who produce excessive quantities of uric acid also show an increased incorporation of glucose-C14 into the ribose-containing urinary excretion product imidazoleacetic acid riboside, which also arises from PRPP. This increased formation of PRPP from glucose, however, is regarded as showing increased turnover of PRPP in association with an increased purine biosynthesis rather than . . .