Changes in the excretion of uric acid produced by experimental hepatic insufficiency.

Abstract

Destruction of uric acid, which is rapid and marked in the normal dog, 2 does not occur if the liver is entirely removed. Complete removal of the liver in the dog produces a very great increase in the uric acid content of the blood and tissues, and also in the urine. Uric acid injected into the dehepatized dog remains unchanged in the blood and tissues and is excreted unchanged in the urine. The destruction of uric acid in the dog seems to be entirely dependent on the presence of the liver, 1 since no uric acid is destroyed in the absence of the liver and no other means of influencing the destruction of uric acid has been demonstrated. Intravenous injection of standard amounts of uric acid into dogs with hepatic insufficiency is followed by a delay in the disappearance of the excess uric acid from the blood, and by an increase in the amount of uric acid excreted in the urine. Both the delay in the disappearance of the excess uric acid from the blood and the amount of uric acid appearing in the urine are greater, the greater the amount of damage or reduction of hepatic tissue. Two objections should be raised to the use of injections of uric acid as a test of hepatic function. First, injections of large amounts of uric acid produce severe lesions in the kidneys and interfere with excretion; and second, lesions of the kidneys may produce retention of uric acid, although in the dog the presence or absence of the kidneys is without effect on the rate of disappearance of uric acid from the blood.