Uric acid

A breakdown product of purines that are part of many foods. In gout, there are frequently, but not always, elevated levels of uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia). However, only a small portion of those with hyperuricemia will develop gout.

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2,6,8-Trioxypurine; white crystals, poorly soluble, contained in solution in the urine of mammals and in solid form in the urine of birds and reptiles; sometimes solidified in small masses as stones or crystals or in larger concretions as calculi; with sodium and other bases it forms urates; elevated levels associated with gout. SYN: lithic acid, triketopurine.

- u. oxidase urate oxidase.

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uric acid n a white odorless nearly insoluble weak acid C₅H₄N₄O₃ that is present in small quantity in mammalian urine as an end product of purine metabolism, is present abundantly in the form of urates in the excreta of most lower vertebrates and invertebrates as the chief nitrogenous waste, and occurs pathologically in renal calculi and the tophi of gout

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a nitrogen-containing organic acid that is the end-product of nucleic acid metabolism and is a component of the urine. Crystals of uric acid are deposited in the joints of people suffering from gout.

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uric ac·id (uґrik) the end product of purine catabolism in primates; elevated blood levels are associated with gout and nephrolithiasis. Its salts, urates, are insoluble in water and can form crystals, stones, or calculi. Called also lithic acid.