DECOMPOSITION OF PURINS IN INTESTINE 165 



not be harmonized with the assumption that these sub- 

 stances are to be regarded as end-products of intermediary 

 metabolism, except by acknowledging the possibility of an 

 important degree of purin destruction in the bowel. 50 

 As a matter of fact, we have no ground for doubting such 

 a possibility. It has been shown that uric acid undergoes a 

 spontaneous dissociation even at the low alkalinity of sodium 

 bicarbonate when in a warm temperature, 51 and is even 

 more readily catabolized in alkali solution when acted upon 

 by an oxidizing agent : 52 



URIC ACID TETRACARBONIMIDB CARBONYLDIUREA UREA 



NH-CO NH-CO-NH NH a NH, NH, 



CO C-NH CO CO CO CO CO 



NH-C-NH NH-CO-NH NH-CO-NH NH a . 



The oxidation takes place in a strongly ammoniacal solution 

 with separation of imino-allantoin, 53 



NH-CH-NH.CO.NH, 

 NH-C=NH. 



C0< 



[-6 



It is doubtful, it is true, whether such oxidation-cleavage 

 processes play any part in the usually strongly active reduc- 

 ing intestinal contents. However, bacterial cleavage proc- 

 esses must not be overlooked, an example of which may be 

 seen in the action of the uric acid bacillus, isolated from 

 chicken excrement, producing a fermentation of uric acid 

 into urea and carbonic acid as end-products. 54 



Reconstruction of Uric Acid. It is difficult to realize the 



60 P. A. Levene and F. Medigreceanu (Rockefeller Instit., New York), Amer. 

 Jour, of Physiol., 27, 438, 1911. 



n W. Wiechowski, Arch. f. exper. Pathol., 60, 200, 1907. 



"A. S'chittenhelm and K. Wiener, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 62, 100, 1909; 

 cf. also R. Behrend, Ann. d. Chem., 338, 141, 1904; 365, 21, 1909. 



88 G. Denicke, Ann. d. Chem., 349, 269, 1906. 



54 C. Ulpiani and M. Cingolini, Gazzetta Chimica Ital., 1908, 34, 377, 1904; 

 cit. in Centralbl. f. Physiol., 19, 166, 1904. 



