Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitors and the Analytical Methods to Screen Them: A Review

Xanthine oxidase (XO) plays an important role in several diseases such as hyperuricemia, gout, cardiovascular and inflammation. And the XO inhibitors which can block the generation of uric acid and decrease superoxide anion in vivo show considerable promise in the therapy of these diseases. Here we present an overview of the xanthine oxidase inhibitors and also review the various analytical methods to screen xanthine oxidase inhibitors. The xanthine oxidase inhibitors can be divided into synthetic xanthine oxidase inhibitors and natural xanthine oxidase inhibitors. And both of the classical and novel analytical methods are offered.