Abstract
Upon feeding the purine nucleosides, guanosine and adenosine, to dogs maintained on a synthetic diet, we find amounts of 2 to 3 gm. almost completely metabolized.
In case of guanosine about one-half of the nitrogen is metabolized to allantoin. One-third of the nitrogen is accounted for by an increased output of urinary urea. This is more than could arise from the amino group of the guanosine alone.
In the case of adenosine, we find the same increase in urinary allantoin, but practically no increase in urinary urea or ammonia.
Our results seem to indicate that in the dog the end product of purine metabolism is not allantoin alone; part of the allantoin seems to be further broken down to urea.
The experiments were carried out on 4 dogs. For a description of the experimental technique we refer to our previous publications. 1
Experiments dealing with the metabolism of the purine bases, guanine and adenine, are in progress.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.