Urate is a final product of purine catabolism and a typical antioxidant in human serum, so to the degree that one believes that antioxidants may have beneficial impacts by scavenging radical oxygen species, one may believe that uric acid could have some beneficial results. The proposed mechanisms would be that urate safeguards versus lipid peroxidation in serum, and safeguards versus DNA and RNA damage intracellularly.
Uric Acid Function in Human Body
So there is a predicament, since hyperuricemia in humans is absolutely favorably associated with even worse total death, hyperlipidemia, type II diabetes, along with increased cerebrovascular, and cardiovascular mortality.
In people rather than other vertebrates, the enzyme urate oxidase, which converts urate to allantoin, which is then excreted in urine, appears to have actually been lost rather just recently in evolutionary terms, so that the end product of purine catabolism is uric acid, as a result of which levels of urate in human serum can approach saturation levels, particularly in males – so it may well be that uric acid has negative impacts in some compartments of the body and positive effects in others, and that protective impacts control just within particular varieties of urate concentration.
Also read: Foods High in Uric Acid
What Causes Uric Acid Increase in the Body?
Uric acid is formed in the body from the normal breakdown of chemicals called purines, which develop from normal DNA and RNA turnover, from molecules that are the source of energy in cells or from dietary sources. A greater than normal blood uric acid level is called hyperuricemia. Hyperuricemia can be caused either by overproduction of uric acid in the body or a decrease in the excretion of uric acid by the kidneys.
Increased Purine Metabolism
High uric acid levels frequently happen in people with rapidly growing tumors, such as those associated with metastatic cancer, numerous myeloma and particular leukemias and lymphomas. With these tumors, the large number of growth cells turning over adds to the overproduction of uric acid. Chemotherapy treatments can likewise often cause high uric acid levels due to tumor lysis syndrome. This syndrome takes place when someone has a big tumor burden and the chemotherapy causes high varieties of cancer cells to pass away all at once and release their cellular material, including DNA and RNA, into the blood stream. This eventually increases the concentration of uric acid in the blood.
Genetic Causes
Genetic conditions and inborn mistakes of metabolic process can also cause an overproduction of uric acid in the body. These conditions are rare, acquired disorders that people are born with. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is one example of an innate mistake of purine metabolism. It is caused by a problem in a gene that makes a protein called hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1 or HPRT1. HPRT1 is an important enzyme in the body for eliminating uric acid; without this enzyme, uric acid levels develop. Gout, kidney and bladder stones and neurological and behavioral issues characterize this disorder.
Also read: High Uric Acid Symptoms
Reduced Excretion
Decreased uric acid excretion is a common system that produces high uric acid levels in the body. Although the underlying cause of reduced excretion in most people with hyperuricemia is not entirely comprehended, decreased uric acid excretion can take place for numerous known factors, consisting of chronic kidney disease. With chronic kidney disease, the kidneys gradually lose their capability to filter and eliminate waste products from the body. Since uric acid is infiltrated the kidney and excreted in the urine, if kidneys are not operating effectively, uric acid is not removed from the body as effectively and causes an accumulation of uric acid levels. Metabolic or endocrine illness such as acidosis can likewise cause decreased excretion of uric acid.
Also read: Kidney Function in Human Body
Additional Considerations
Particular foods contain a high concentration of purine, and this can contribute to uric acid levels. These include organ meat such as kidney and liver, red meat, poultry, fish, sardines, anchovies, mushrooms, yeast and beer. Fasting can likewise increase uric acid levels by both increasing the production of uric acid and reducing the excretion. During fasting, the body breaks down its own tissue for energy while the kidney is unable to excrete uric acid as effectively since uric acid takes on other chemicals to be excreted. Fast weight reduction, stress and exhausting exercise also increase uric acid levels.
