<qa>  What is the UA inducible antioxidant produced in response to increasing oxidative stress?Unfortunately, observational studies cannot fully address this question. In fact, we cannot exclude that the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between UA, inflammatory markers and negative health outcomes, may simply reflect the fact that UA is an inducible antioxidant that is produced in response to increasing oxidative stress. To verify the hypothesis that UA activates inflammation, we plan to conduct two complementary randomized controlled trials, each one including 10 treated and 10 control subjects. In the first trials, subjects with low UA will be administered 500 mg of UA intravenously. In the second trials, subjects with moderately elevated UA will be administered a single acute dose of Rasburicase. Then inflammatory markers will be measured at multiple points in time, for a total of 32 hours. We hypothesize that an acute increase in the circulating levels of UA will be followed by increasing levels of inflammatory markers. At the same time, an acute reduction of UA levels will be followed by a progressive reduction of inflammatory markers. This study should provide information that will help clinicians to decide whether to or not to treat mild hyperuricemia. 