Uric Acid Metabolism in Normal Man and in Primary Gout

Rate of Uric Acid Production in Primary GoutSome 25 or 30 per cent of patients with primary gout are habitual overexcretors of uric acid113 —they eliminate it in gross excess via the kidneys and gut, on a diet low in purines and restricted in proteins, while maintaining high serum urate levels — and hence perforce must synthesize abnormally large amounts. Such patients invariably give unequivocally confirmatory evidence of severalfold overproduction of uric acid when tested by the isotope-dilution method101,102 or by the rate of incorporation of isotope-labeled precursors into uric acid. When tagged glycine is given to gouty overexcretors . . .