Who gets gout and why?
Gout is clearly associated with a buildup of uric acid. Uric acid is a produced as part of the body’s metabolism of purines, which are produced as the body breaks down any of the many purine-containing substances, including nucleic acids from our diet or from the breakdown of our own cells. Figure 4, on the left side, shows a simplified pathway from purines to uric acid, and on the right shows how medications for gout work, which is discussed further in sections 5 and 6 below (Figure 4- pathway from purines to uric acid). Depending on the lab, normal values for uric acid run from 3.6 mg/dL to 8.3 mg/dL. The higher the blood level uric acid, the more the risk of deposits of uric acid in the joints and subsequent gouty attacks. In mammals other than man and the great apes, the enzyme uricase breaks uric acid into the more soluble allantoin, which can be more easily excreted in the urine. Humans, lacking this enzyme, run higher levels of uric acid and are thus subject to gout. Figure 4- p
Gout is clearly associated with a buildup of uric acid. Uric acid is a produced as part of the body’s metabolism of purines, which are produced as the body breaks down any of the many purine-containing substances, including nucleic acids from our diet or from the breakdown of our own cells. Figure 4, on the left side, shows a simplified pathway from purines to uric acid, and on the right shows how medications for gout work, which is discussed further in sections 5 and 6 below (Figure 4- pathway from purines to uric acid). Depending on the lab, normal values for uric acid run from 3.6 mg/dL to 8.3 mg/dL. The higher the blood level uric acid, the more the risk of deposits of uric acid in the joints and subsequent gouty attacks. In mammals other than man and the great apes, the enzyme uricase breaks uric acid into the more soluble allantoin, which can be more easily excreted in the urine. Humans, lacking this enzyme, run higher levels of uric acid and are thus subject to gout. Figure 4- p
