Urate Oxidase in Primates

Abstract

Several genera of New World monkeys have high uric acid concentration in serum and urine comparable to man and the great apes. Like man these animals lack urate oxidase activity in liver tissue. The purine metabolism of these nonhuman primates appears to be similar to that of man as exemplified by fasting-induced hyperuricemia. Old World monkeys and prosimians have low uric acid concentration in serum and urine. The urate oxidase activity of prosimian liver is remarkably stable whereas that of Old World monkeys was found to be quite unstable, perhaps reflecting the gradual degeneration of this enzyme in primate phylogenesis.