Factors contributing to hyperuricemia vary from genetics, insulin resistance, hypertension and renal insufficiency, to obesity, diet and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Foods high in the purines adenine and hypoxanthine are more potent in exacerbating hyperuricemia. Therefore patients with hyperuricemia have to strictly control their diet. However, accurate information on which food products and which nutrients affect plasma uric acid concentration are limited, and thus the dietary recommendations are currently unclear. For example, allopurinol can induce hypersensitivity syndrome, which may lead to the death of patients. In comparison to restricting the diet, the use of purine compound degrading probiotics is a promising alternative for the prevention of hyperuricemia. Lactic acid bacteria are Gram positive, acid-tolerant, fermenting rods or cocci that produce lactic acid as the major metabolic end-product of carbohydrate fermentation. They are used in the manufacture of dairy products such as acidophilus milk, yogurt, cheeses and pickled vegetables. Numerous LAB strains have been continuously screened for desirable characteristics, such as stimulation of immune system, antitumor activity, stabilization of gut microbiota and inhibition of pathogenic species. These beneficial properties make LAB strains valuable as probiotics, and many of them are used as starter microorganisms in yogurt fermentation. However, no serum uric acid-lowering LAB and systemic evaluation of the probiotic characteristics have been reported. In this study, we report for the first time the screening of purine nucleoside degrading LAB strains isolated from Chinese sauerkraut, and evaluate the probiotic characters of selected candidate strains. The effects of the optimal strain on a hyperuricemia rat model were also presented. We believe that our results will BEZ235 provide a reference for the development of hyperuricemia-preventing probiotics. Purine rich foods such as meat and seafood, as well as alcoholic beverages potently exacerbate hyperuricemia, the major factor causing gout. Over the past ten years, more and more studies have documented the biological interference of uric acid with other diseases, such as hypertension, to initiate endothelial dysfunction, vascular damage and renal disease. Normalizing serum uric acid level is thus absolutely essential to reduce the risk of complications. However, prescribing uric acid-lowering drugs to individuals with asymptomatic hyperuricemia is not recommended by current policy because of insufficient evidence. Therefore, probiotics with the ability to degrade purine compounds in food deserve to be investigated exhaustively for the prevention of hyperuricemia. LAB have been investigated intensively over the past few decades as they were found to play important roles in gastrointestinal transit and food processing. Many of them were proven to have characteristics beneficial to human health. Chinese sauerkraut, the typical representative of Chinese traditional fermented foods, is a rich natural source of LAB. Many species of LAB have been isolated from Chinese sauerkraut and used as probiotics. The objective of this study was to isolate a collection of probiotic LAB from Chinese sauerkraut.