[Increase in urinary uric acid in the rat following portacaval shunt. The action of clofibrate].

Two successive experiments on rats confirm that a portocaval shunt leads to a substantial increase in uricosuria, which does not climax in the first week postoperatively. Clofibrate, an inductive liver enzyme, significantly reduces the uricosuria, but only after a certain timelag. Uricosuria, the degree of which varies with individual rats, leads to crystallization of uric acid, mainly in the form of ammonium urate, but polyuria secondary to portocaval shunt tends to inhibit the crystallization. A reduced water intake one day out of two facilitates the crystallization after a portocaval shunt.