Henry Ford Hospital Medical Journal
Abstract
The urinary output of uric acid from the purebred Dalmatian is similar in amount to that in man. Also, this breed of dog has a higher plasma uric acid level than other dogs and, like man, this hyperuricemia is accompanied more frequently with renal and bladder lithiasis. Allopurinol is effective therapy in both man and dog. Study of the fate of uric acid in the Dalmatian shows that the liver does not oxidize the available uric acid completely although it is capable of doing so when liver homogenates are studied. Consequently, the hepatic cellular membrane appears impermeable, or partially so, to uric acid. The possibility of a general membrane transport problem similar to that encountered at the liver cell has not been confirmed with studies of red cells in the Dalmatian. This dog shows some similarities to certain rare clinical human diseases with deafness, cardiac arrhythmias and renal tubule leak of uric acid, all of which offer ample opportunity for close and detailed examination as clinical models in biochemical, physiological, pathological and genetic studies.
Recommended Citation
Duncan, Howard and Curtis, April S.
(1971)
"Observations on Uric Acid Transport in Man, the Dalmatian and the non-Dalmatian Dog,"
Henry Ford Hospital Medical Journal
: Vol. 19
:
No.
2
, 105-114.
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/hfhmedjournal/vol19/iss2/9