Synthesis of uric acid

Abstract

The possibility of a synthesis of uric acid from lactic acid and urea has been considered by a number of investigators, but when these substances are taken by way of the stomach, all researches alike have failed to disclose any evidence of uric acid synthesis in mammals. The object of this study was first, to repeat the earlier experiments of Minkowski; second, to find out if slight changes of method would perhaps serve to show a synthesis of uric acid; and third, to consider the problem experimentally in relation to a man suffering from chronic gout. In gout it is possible that an abnormal synthesis of uric acid occurs, and also, since the uricolytic powers of the gouty organism are less active than normal, a synthesis masked in a normal person might be evident in a person suffering from gout.