Abstract
In the isolated perfused rat heart the main released purine catabolite is uric acid. Furthermore purine nucleosides and bases added to the perfusion buffer are oonverted into uric acid at the passage through the coronary circulation. In the human heart a low xanthine oxidase activity has been observed, however few data are available on the release of uric acid. In this work we have determined the purine catabolites by HPLC in deproteinated blood samples collected from the aorta and coronary sinus in human patients submitted to routine cardiac catheterization, whole blood concentration of uric acid increased from 105 ± 21 uM in aortic blood to 189 ± 25 uM in coronary sinus blood, while the concentrations of xanthine and hypoxanthine were slightly decreased or in a few patients were unchanged. Only trace amounts of inosine and adenosine could be detected. The amount of the released uric acid is consistent with the xanthine oxidase activity in human heart. From these results it appears that in the human heart under rest conditions uric acid is the main purine catabolite and that the purine output exceeds the reuptake. In basal conditions the net purine output (including uric acid) should correspond to myocardial de novo synthesis of purine nucleotides. The formation of uric acid must be taken into account in the study of purine metabolism also in human heart.
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