BACKGROUND The finding reported in a previous paper - alkalization of urine facilitates uric acid excretion - is contradictory to what one might expect to occur: because food materials for the alkalization of urine contain fewer purine bodies than those for acidification, less uric acid in alkaline urine should have been excreted than in acid urine. To make clear what component of uric acid exc...

Elevated plasma uric acid concentration is a risk factor for gout, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Quercetin, a flavonoid found in high levels in onions, tea and apples, inhibits xanthine oxidoreductase in vitro, the final step in intracellular uric acid production, indicating that quercetin might be able to lower blood uric acid in humans. We determined the effects of 4 weeks of oral s...

Elevated uric acid causes direct injury to pancreatic β-cells. In this study, we examined the effects of luteolin, an important antioxidant, on uric acid-induced β-cell dysfunction. We first evaluated the effect of luteolin on nitric oxide (NO) formation in uric acid-stimulated Min6 cells using the Griess method. Next, we performed transient transfection and reporter assays to measure transcrip...

Uric acid is considered as an antioxidant in the blood. Despite its proposed protective properties, elevated plasma uric acid has been associated with hypertension in a variety of disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the increase of arterial blood pressure and the changes in serum uric acid, measured during the gradual development of experimental hype...

BACKGROUND Elevated albuminuria as well as an increased serum uric acid concentration is associated with poor cardiovascular outcome. We questioned whether these 2 variables (albuminuria and serum uric concentration) may be interrelated via tubular uric acid reabsorption. METHODS AND RESULTS Included were 7688 participants of the PREVEND Study, an observational, general population-based cohor...

BACKGROUND Some experimental evidence suggests that uric acid impairs endothelial function. It is controversial if high uric acid levels and impaired endothelial function are related in healthy adults. In addition, the effect of uric acid on endothelial cells (ECs) of humans is unexplored. METHODS Data of 107 healthy adult volunteers were analyzed. The association between serum uric acid and ...

We examined the stability of uric acid in dilute aqueous ammonium hydroxide solution by mass spectrometry. Uric acid decomposes in ammonium hydroxide even as dilute as 15 mmol/L when the mole ratio of ammonium hydroxide to uric acid is 50:1. There are at least four products of the decomposition, two of which have been identified as allantoin and urea. The slope of the decomposition curve indica...

BACKGROUND Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. Uric acid is a water-soluble antioxidant found in the body. Many recent studies have found that uric acid plays an important role in cognitive impairment, although the effects of uric acid on MCI are not clear. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to explore the relationship betw...

Obesity and diets rich in uric acid-raising components appear to account for the increased prevalence of hyperuricemia in Westernized populations. Prevalence rates of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, CKD, and cardiovascular disease are also increasing. We used Mendelian randomization to examine whether uric acid is an independent and causal cardiovascular risk factor. Serum uric acid was measur...