Interrelationships between gluconeogenesis and uricogenesis in chicken liver.

1. Experiments performed on isolated hepatocytes and perfused liver of starved chickens showed that gluconeogenesis from lactate, glycerol and fructose was inhibited by 22-100% on addition of urate precursors. 2. The inhibition was associated with an increased rate of urate formation. 3. 2,4-Dinitrophenol (40 microM), 2-bromooctanoate (2 mM) and 3-mercaptopicolinate (3MPA) (0.5 mM) were inhibitory with respect to gluconeogenesis but did not significantly affect the rate of urate formation. 4. The possible interrelationships between gluconeogenesis and uricogenesis are considered in terms of a competition for ATP and for other metabolites between the two pathways. 5. An interplay of both pathways at the level of anion transfer across the inner mitochondrial membrane is also discussed.