Drug interactions with urate excretion in man.

The effects of pyrazinamide and ampicillin on the uricosuric response to probenecid and benzbromarone were studied in six normal subjects. The amount of uric acid was calculated for the 24 h volume of urine and the urate and creatinine clearances were determined for each of three urinary collection periods in order to calculate the percentage Curate/Ccreatinine. Ampicillin alone caused a significant uricosuria in the 0-2 h (p less than 0.025) and 8-24 h (p less than 0.025) periods. Benzbromarone caused a significant reduction in all the parameters. These observations suggest that high concentrations ampicillin compete with uric acid for reabsorption, but that its delayed uricosuric action can be ascribed to the binding of this dipeptide to a charge-mediated receptor site on the brush border membrane of proximal tubular cells. It would also appear that benzbromarone is secreted by the pyrazinamide-sensitive mechanism for urate secretion as it can cause a paradoxical retention of urate, but leaves the other probenecid-sensitive secretory transport process unoccupied as indicated by the fact that it does not change the kinetics of ampicillin.