Correlation of uric acid levels and purine metabolism enzyme activities in plasma and liver tissues of diabetic rats

Abstract

The uric acid alteration in human beings causes major health problem due to its pivotal role in the etiology of many systemic diseases. The purine metabolism enzyme activities have a significant role in the process of elevated uric acid in diabetes mellitus. Hence, a study has been undertaken to understand the alteration of these enzyme activities in diabetic condition with an attempt to establish the possible cause for uric acid elevation. Alloxan was administered (150 mg/kg; i.p.) to induce diabetes in rats. Thirty days after alloxan induced diabetes, the enzyme activities were assessed in both plasma and liver tissues. The enzyme activities such as 5-nucleotidase (5-NT), adenosine deaminase (ADA), xanthine oxidase (XO) in the plasma and liver tissues were assayed by spectrometric technique and uric acid levels were also measured by Caraway procedure. A significant (P< 0.001) increase in 5-NT, ADA and XO enzyme activities in plasma and liver tissue with a concomitant increase (P< 0.001) in uric acid levels was observed in diabetic group. The uric acid and the activities of enzymes did not change significantly in control group. From the present study, it can be concluded that an increase in uric acid levels noticed in diabetic condition may be due to increased catabolism of purines as evidenced by increased activities of 5-NT, ADA and XO enzymes.