In humans, uric acid (urate) is the major end product of purine catabolism in the absence of urate oxidase.

Serum urate concentration is, in general, stable: approximately 5 mg/dl inn postpubertal males and 4.1 mg/dl in postpubertal females. Disturbances in maintaining serum urate levels result in hyperurecemia and the deposition of sodium urate crystals in the tissues, leading to painful disorders collectively called gout. These disorders include acute arthritis, chronic gouty arthritis, tophi (firm, nodular, subcutaneous deposits of urate crystals surrounded by fibrosis), and nephritis (inflammation of the nephron). Chronic hyperurecemia results in the deposition of urate in tissues, cell injury, and inflammation. Because urate crystals are not degraded by lysosomal enzymes, they persist in dead cells.