- uric acid
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—uric-acid, adj.1. Biochem. a compound, C5H4N4O3, present in mammalian urine in small amounts, and the principal nitrogenous component of the excrement of reptiles and birds, that in the form of its salts occurs in the joints in gout and as the major constituent of kidney stones.2. Chem. a white, crystalline, odorless, tasteless, very slightly water-soluble powder form of this compound, obtained chiefly from urine or bird excrement or synthesized, used chiefly in organic synthesis.[1790-1800]
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Heterocyclic compound of the purine type, the end product of metabolism of the purines in nucleic acids in many animals, including humans.It is excreted by reptiles and birds as the chief nitrogenous end product of protein breakdown. Small quantities are normally found in human blood; in gout, levels are abnormally high. Uric acid is used industrially in organic synthesis.* * *
a compound belonging to the purine group, and the chief form in which nitrogen, resulting from the breakdown of protein during digestion, is excreted by reptiles and birds. Small quantities of uric acid (about 0.7 gram per day) are excreted by humans as a product of the breakdown of purines that are constituents of nucleoproteins. In persons suffering from gout (q.v.), however, the level of uric acid in the blood may be high. Minute quantities of a sodium salt of uric acid, precipitated in cartilage and bone, are the cause of gout.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
