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xanthine
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Xanthine (3,7-dihydro-purine-2,6-dione), is a purine base found in most body tissues and fluids and in other organisms.
Metabolism
Xanthine is a product on the pathway of purine degradation. It is created from guanine by guanine deaminase. It is created from hypoxanthine by xanthine oxidoreductase.
Xanthine is subsequently converted to uric acid by the action of the xanthine oxidase enzyme.
Pathology
In xanthinuria, deficient xanthine oxidase cannot convert xanthine to uric acid.
See also
xantic bases (xanthines)