Uric acid is an intermediate product of purine metabolism. It is produced by the oxidation of xanthine by xanthine oxidase. It is a kind of oxypurine with antioxidant properties. In most terrestrial animals, urate oxidase can catalyze the further oxidation of uric acid to allantoin, but the urate oxidase gene of humans and some advanced primates does not play a role, so uric acid will not be further decomposed in the body. The reason why the function of urate oxidase is lost in the process of human evolution is still a question to be explored. The antioxidant properties of uric acid led researchers to speculate that this mutation would benefit early primates and humans. The results of studies on the adaptability of organisms to high altitude environments support the hypothesis that uric acid as an antioxidant can alleviate the oxidative stress caused by high altitude hypoxia. In animal experiments on diseases caused by oxidative stress, it was found that uric acid can prevent or alleviate diseases. Researchers attributed it to the antioxidant properties of uric acid. The research results on the antioxidant mechanism of uric acid also support this proposal.
For multiple sclerosis, Gwen Scott explained the importance of uric acid as an antioxidant for multiple sclerosis. The level of uric acid in the serum is inversely related to the incidence of multiple sclerosis, because the serum of multiple sclerosis patients The level of uric acid is low, and patients with gout rarely suffer from this disease. More importantly, uric acid can be used to treat experimental allergic cerebrospinal disease-an animal model of multiple sclerosis. In short, although the mechanism of uric acid as an antioxidant is well supported, the claim that the level of uric acid in the body affects the risk of multiple sclerosis is still controversial and requires more research.
Uric acid has the highest concentration of all blood antioxidants, and half of the total antioxidant capacity in human serum is contributed by it. The antioxidant activity of uric acid is very complicated. It cannot react with some oxidants such as superoxide, but it can have an antioxidant effect on peroxynitrite, peroxide and hypochlorous acid.
