Uric acid has attracted the attention of scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines, and in recent years dramatic progress has occurred within many of these disciplines. This volume is designed to fill void in the field. Major works in the past five years have provided comprehensive reviews of disorders of uric acid metabolism for the clinical (1-3) as well as short reports of recent progress for the interested scholar (4, 5). In Uric Acid the reader will find extensive reviews of relevant topics selected largely by virtue of recent progress in the field and written by those who, to a considerable extent, qre responsible for that progress. Seven chapters are dedicated to a description of uric acid synthesis, its control, diseases resulting from aberrations in the pathway, and effects of intermediates and end products of this pathway on other metabolic processes. The next five chapters describe our current understanding of the mechanisms by which uric acid is elimi nated by the organism. Then seven chapters review the factors responsible for the human "disease" produced by uric acid in the joints and kidneys. The final four chapters provide a summary of therapeutic approaches to control gout, the most important disease caused per se by uric acid.

Klappentext

With contributions by numerous experts

Inhalt
Biochemistry and Physiology of Uric Acid: Production.- 1 Uric Acid: Chemistry and Synthesis.- 2 Regulation of Biosynthesis De Novo.- 3 Purine Salvage Enzymes.- 4 Purine Nucleotide Interconversions.- 5 Degradation of Purine Nucleotides.- 6 Interrelationship of Purine and Pyrimidine Metabolism.- 7 Abnormalities of PRPP Metabolism Leading to an Overproduction of Uric Acid.- Biochemistry and Physiology of Uric Acid: Renal Disposal.- 8 Urate Excretion in Nonmammalian Vertebrates.- 9 Urinary Excretion of Uric Acid in Nonhuman Mammalian Species.- 10 Urate Excretion in Man, Normal and Gouty.- 11 Abnormal Urate Excretion Associated with Renal and Systematic Disorders, Drugs, and Toxins.- Biochemistry and Physiology of Uric Acid: Extrarenal Disposal.- 12 Extrarenal Disposal of Uric Acid.- Pathology of Uric Acid: Acute Gouty Arthritis.- 13 Initial Events in the Development of an Acute Attack of Gouty Arthritis.- 14 Role of Proteoglycans in the Development of Gouty Arthritis.- 15 Role of the Leukocyte and Chemical Mediators of the Acute Gouty Attack.- 16 Role of Local Factors in the Precipitation of Urate Crystals.- Pathology of Uric Acid: Nephrolithiasis and Urate Nephropathy.- 17 Uric Acid Nephrolithiasis.- 18 Association of Calcium Nephrolithiasis with Disorders of Uric Acid Metabolism.- 19 Pathology of Urate Nephropathy.- Pharmacology of Uric Acid.- 20 Uricosuric Drugs.- 21 Allopurinol and Other Inhibitors of Urate Synthesis.- 22 Enzymatic Uricolysis and Its Use in Therapy.- 23 Pharmacology of Drugs Used in Treatment of Acute Gout.- Author Index.