F asting obese subjects were treated with allopurinol or probenecid in order to prevent systemic and renal complications of hyperuricemia. Allopurinol in a dose of 600 mg. per day curbed excessive urate synthesis during early fasting. Renal urate excretion in the allopurinol-treated subjects was the same as that of untreated patients. Urinary oxypurine excretion increased 400 per cent during administration of allopurinol. When 600 mg. of allopurinol per day was given during the first month of fasting and 300 mg. per day during the second month, a uricosuric agent was not needed. Stable and neal' normal serum urate levels during the second month of fasting could be maintained in some subjects with the aid of uricosuric probenecid, permitting a gross estimate of a daily urate turnover rate of 480 to 500 mg. This suggests that during prolonged fasting, the initially accelerated catabolism of nucleoprotein decreases, although to a lesser degree than that of body protein in general.

No abstract