How do uric acid crystals form

Uric acid is a normal body waste product. It forms when chemicals called purines break down. Purines are natural substances found in the body. They are also found in many foods such as liver, shellfish, and alcohol. They can also be formed in the body when DNA is broken down. When purines break down into uric acid in the blood, the body gets rid of the acid when you urinate or have a bowel movement. But if your body makes too much uric acid, or if your kidneys aren't working well, uric acid can build up in the blood.

Uric acid levels can also increase when you eat too many high-purine foods or take medicines like diuretics, aspirin, and niacin. Then crystals of uric acid can form and collect in the joints. This causes painful inflammation. This condition is called gout. Uric acid can also lead to kidney stones.

If you have gout, you may have crystals of uric acid in your synovial fluid, the substance that surrounds joints. Uric acid is a waste product from the breakdown of purines, which are present in the body and in foods such as red meat, some seafood, and organ meats. Usually, the kidneys filter out the excess uric acid.

However, when there is an excess, it can build up and form needle-shaped crystals in the joints. These crystals can rub against the synovium, which is the soft lining of the joint. This rubbing leads to inflammation, pain, and swelling. These symptoms often occur in the big toe, but they can also affect other joints in the body, including the lesser toe joints, the ankles, the knees, and the elbow bursae.

Calcium crystals are normally present in the bones and teeth. In people with CPPD, the crystals form in the cartilage. In many cases, these crystals remain in the cartilage without causing any symptoms.

However, the crystals can move into the joint cavity and rub against the soft tissue, causing pain and swelling. Gout usually occurs in one joint at a time. A person experiencing a gout flare will have the following symptoms:. Gout crystals usually affect the big toe, but they can also cause symptoms in the joints in the wrist, ankle, elbow, shoulder, knee, and hip. CPPD has similar symptoms to gout and can lead to:.

CPPD usually affects the knee, but it can also occur in the wrist, shoulder, ankle, elbow, toe, and hip. The pain severity is typically less than in gout. Some home remedies that a person can try using include:.

Foods that have naturally occurring high levels of purines include:. In this regard, metal colloids in solution are used for de-crystallization of uric acid crystals. Metal colloids in solution convert the microwave energy to kinetic energy to move about the uric acid solution for de-crystallization process, where the collisions between the metal colloids and uric acid result in the break down uric acid crystals Scheme 1 -Top.

Top Shows the depiction of the de-crystallization of uric acid crystals with gold colloids and control sample without gold colloids. Bottom Experimental procedures used in this study. In this communication, we explore the use of gold colloids using our MA-MAEC technique for de-crystallization of uric acid. This was performed on a blank modified glass slide as our platform, where uric acid was crystallized and de-crystallized with the addition of gold colloids. The combined use of gold colloids and microwave heating resulted in the de-crystallization of uric acid crystals i.

On the other hand, the use of microwave heating and gold colloids separately or at room temperature experiments did not result in the de-crystallization of uric acid crystals, which proves the effectiveness of using gold colloids and microwave heating together.

Sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide purchased from Pharmco products Inc. Glass slides of 0. The standard glass microscope slides were cut into eight equal pieces, cleaned and submerged in freshly prepared piranha solution Sulfuric Acid: Hydrogen Peroxide for 10 minutes, followed by thorough rinse with deionized water and air dry process.

Silicon isolators 2. Optical images of the crystals were taken at one minute increments with an optical microscope to observe de-crystallization uric acid crystals i. The number and size of uric acid crystals were monitored using Motic software. Figure 1 shows the comparison of optical images of uric acid crystals with and without gold colloids incubated at room temperature and using microwave heating.

In experiment 1 and Control 1, the size and the number of uric acid crystals remained the same after 10 minutes of incubation. The same observation was also made when gold colloids were incubated with uric acid crystals with microwave heating Control 2. On the other hand, the use of gold colloids with microwave heating Experiment 2 resulted in a significant reduction in the number and size of uric acid crystals after 10 minutes.

The smaller uric acid crystals also appeared to be in an isolated form and aggregated form. However, after the addition of gold colloids and exposure to microwave heating, the number and size of the uric acid crystals were significantly reduced. Optical images of uric acid crystals grown on glass slides with and without gold colloids at both room temperature and microwave heating after 10 minutes of incubation. High-resolution optical images of uric acid crystals grown on glass slides with gold colloids and using microwave heating before and after 10 minutes of incubation.

American College of Rheumatology. Caffo AL. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of gout. Gout or pseudogout adult. Mayo Clinic. Gloperba prescribing information. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed Jan. Perez-Ruiz F. Pharmacologic urate-lowering therapy and treatment of topic in patients with gout. FitzGerald JD, et al. Chang-Miller A expert opinion. Related Diuretics: Cause of gout?