Relationships between Lipid and Purine Metabolism - The Behavior of Fatty Aacid in the Plasma Triglycerides of Gouty Patients

The composition of fatty acids in plasma triglycerides has been analyzed in 42 gouty patients and 22 controls, by extraction and subsequent gas-chromatography as previously described by Ciccoli et al. (1). The gouty patients present remarkable changes and, specifically, an increase in oleic acid, decreases in arachidonic and linoleic acids, which do not vary according to the age of the subjects and remained the same after a standard diet in which lipids were represented only by olive oil. The picture is similar to that observed both in diabetic and atherosclerotic patients, and we may therefore conclude that gout is another condition in which the ratio of essential fatty acids/monoenoic acid is affected; the relationship of this alteration with purine metabolism is not yet clear and is referred to the hormonal variations observed in gouty patients (2). (1) Ciccoli L. et al. (1983) Lipids 18, 363-370 (2) Gregolini L. et al. (1983) Clin. Chim. Acta 130, 269-277