Purine catabolism

The purine bases guanine and hypoxanthine (derived from adenine by events in the purine salvage pathways) are converted to xanthine and then to urate uric acid, which is excreted from the body (Watts 1974). The end-point of this pathway in humans and hominoid primates is unusual. Most other mammals metabolize uric acid further to yield more soluble end products, and much speculation has centered on possible roles for high uric acid levels in normal human physiology.

嘌呤碱基鸟嘌呤和次黄嘌呤（通过嘌呤回收途径中的事件由腺嘌呤衍生而来）被转化为黄嘌呤，进而转变为尿酸，尿酸随后被排出体外（Watts 1974）。该途径在人类和类人猿灵长类动物中的终点较为特殊。大多数其他哺乳动物会将尿酸进一步代谢，以产生更多可溶性终产物，并且关于高尿酸水平在正常人类生理学中可能发挥的作用，已有众多猜测。