Is Uric Acid a Waste Product?

Overview

The author describes briefly the genesis and effect of free oxygen radicals and their possiblerelationship with the development of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis. He emphasizes theimportance of uric acid as an important part of the antioxidant defense. He compares a group of 213female patients with rheumatoid arthritis with a group of 107 female patients with osteoarthritis.In the first group a mean uric acid serum concentration of 194.8 ± 56.2 mmol/l was recorded, whilein the second group it was 244.3 ± 60.1 mmol/l. While in the group of osteoarthritic patients the valueis practically identical with that reported in the literature, in the group of patients with rheumatoidarthritis a statistically significantly lower value was recorded. The author does not rule out thatlower serum uric acid values could be related to the effect of free radicals in the pathogenesis of RA.

Key words:
uric acid, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, free radicals, antioxidants