ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of ethanol extracts from Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma on hyperuricemic mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The hyperuricemia was induced by gavage of hypoxanthine and subcutaneous injection of potassium oxonate (model A) or subcutaneous injection of uric acid (model B) in ICR male mice. The mice in ethanol extracts groups were administrated with Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma ethanol extracts 5.4 g/kg by gavage, the positive control groups were given with 10 mg/ml allopurinol or 5 mg/ml benzbromarone by gavage, respectively. The plasma uric acid levels were measured by using HPLC.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The plasma uric acid levels of model group, control group and ethanol extract group in model A mice were (40.03±27.24), (4.08±1.47) and (18.10±8.87) g/mL (compared with model group, P <0.05), respectively. The plasma uric acid levels of model group, control group and ethanol extract group in model B mice were (18.57±3.83), (4.29±2.36) and (15.36±2.71) g/mL (compared with model group, P <0.05), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The ethanol extracts from Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma have certain hypouricemic effect in hyperuricemic mice induced by hypoxanthine and potassium oxonate or by uric acid.</p>