What is Xanthine oxydase deficiency?
Xanthinuria, also called Xanthine oxidase deficiency, is a descriptive term for excess urinary excretion of the purine base xanthine. Two inherited forms of xanthinuria principally result from a deficiency of the enzyme xanthine dehydrogenase, which is the enzyme responsible for degrading hypoxanthine and xanthine to uric acid. Deficiency of xanthine dehydrogenase results in plasma accumulation and excess urinary excretion of the highly insoluble xanthine, which may lead to arthropathy, myopathy, crystal nephropathy, urolithiasis, or renal failure. Hypoxanthine does not accumulate to an appreciable degree because it is recycled through a salvage pathway by the enzyme hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT).
