Adaptation of urate synthesis in chicken liver

1. Urate synthesis was measured in hepatocytes from chickens after starvation or high-protein feeding. Adaptation occurred only on the high-protein diet. 2. The theoretical balances of reactions from alanine (5 alanine + 3 O2 = urate + 1.5 glucose + glycine) and asparagine (3 asparagine + 2 O2 = urate + ammonia + 0.5 glucose + glycine) agree reasonably well with the experimental results. 3. Enzymes directly involved in urate synthesis from these amino acids increase up to 12-fold on the high-protein diet; only amidophosphoribosyltransferase activity appears to be rate-limiting for urate synthesis. 4. The processes of nitrogen disposal in chicken and rat are compared and discussed.