Uricosuric agents in uremic sera. Identification of indoxyl sulfata and hippuric acid.

Serum and urine from chronically uremic patients and normal individuals were subjected to gel filtration of Sephadex-G10. The effects of the eluted fractions on the uptake of urate and para-aminohippurate by isolated cortical tubules of rabbit kidney were investigated. According to the origin of the samples, one to three major groups of fractions inhibiting both urate and para-aminohippurate transport were disclosed. The first eluted group occurred for all the samples under study. The second one was demonstrated in both sera and urines from uremic patients but only in urines from normal individuals. The third one was exclusively detected in uremic sera and urines. Among all the compounds identified, only hippuric acid, eluted in the fractions of the second group, was capable of inhibiting the uptake of urate and para-aminohippurate in vitro. The concentration for which this inhbiitory effect of hippuric acid occurred was in the range of that existing in uremic sera. Indoxyl sulfate, which accumulates to very high concentrations in uremic serum, could not be disclosed in the above-mentioned fractions. This is explained by the strong adsorption of this indole derivative to Sephadex gel. Potassium indoxyl sulfate, when tested in vitro at the concentration existing in uremic serum, substantially inhibited the uptake of both urate and para-aminohippurate. In normal subjects, ingestion of hippuric acid or potassium indoxyl sulfate significantly increased fractional urinary excretion of uric acid. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that progressive retention of hippuric acid, indoxyl sulfate, and other yet unidentified inhibitors may explain the gradual increase in urinary fractional excretion of urate observed in uremia. The present results may be viewed as an example of a mechanism in which retention of normally excreted end products is responsible for adaptation of tubular transport in uremic subjects.