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a 30 yr old man has suffered from recurrent episodes of painful , swollen joints, and most often it involves his big toe. His physician prescribes Allopurinol, which helps him. How does this drug work?

1) decreases urinary excretion of purine breakdown products
2) increases urinary excretion of purine breakdown products
3) decreases purine synthesis
4) decreases purine breakdown
5) decreases purine synthesis and breakdown
6) decreases pyrimidine salvage

hmm its 5?

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555

(5)

3333.. ?????? by decreasing synthesis and increasing breakdown.. not decreasing breakdown..

5555

answer 555

it's an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, the enzyme responsible for the conversion of hypoxanthine to xanthine and of xanthine to uric acid, the end product of purine metabolism in man .

555