Partial Pressure of Ammonia in Alveolar Air

Jacquez, John A.; Poppell, J. William; Jeltsch, Rudolph

doi:10.1126/science.129.3344.269

Cited by 48 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Therefore no net loss of organic nitrogen would be measured by the Kjeldahl technique. This thought is consistent with the experimental data showing elimination of trivial amounts of ammonia nitrogen from the lungs of patients in hepatic coma (26).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

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Conversion of Protein Nitrogen into Gaseous Catabolites by the Chick Embryo

Costa

Kerins

Kantor

et al. 1974

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Chicken eggs incubated under hatchery conditions for 19 days show significant decreases in the total content of water and organic nitrogen, but not of sodium or potassium. The hypothesis is discussed that the formation of gaseous nitrogen is responsible for the nitrogen loss.Metabolic production of elemental nitrogen by germfree mice and by man has been suggested by data obtained in our laboratory. We used a closed svstem that could be flushed practically free from preexisting N2 and in which atmospheric contamination was excluded with confidence (1-3). Attempts to further document the pathway using [15N]amino acids were unsuccessful mostly because of the technical difficulties involved.This problem, which has obvious implications vis-a-vis nutritional concepts on one side, and gas exchange theory and measurement on the other, has received recent attention from respiratory physiologists, who have reinvestigated the Lavoisier-Haldane postulate of equality between inspiratory and expiratory N2 (4-10). The most careful of these experiments (9) have found an excess of expiratory N2 of the order of 0.59-4.4 ml/min; this is a quantity nearly identical to the one reported by us with a totally different technique (3). Such amounts of N2 are sufficiently small to be negligible in the usual respiratory calculations, although not negligible from a metabolic standpoint. The volumes involved approach the limit of the sensitivity of the respiratory balance method; therefore, the authors could not decide whether the excess expiratory N2 represented metabolic production or persistent nitrogen washout.Clearly, definitive answers, obtained through a multitude of approaches, to this important problem are needed.The avian egg represents an actively metabolizing and differentiating system permeable to gases or vapors (11,12). It thus provides a technically simple model and a new approach. We have measured total "Kjeldahl" § nitrogen in groups of fertilized chicken eggs before incubation and 2 days before hatching, and have demonstrated significant nitrogen loss, associated with growth and maturation of the embryo. § The meaning of the term "Kjeldahl" nitrogen is well known and indicates the nitrogen measurable with the Kjeldahl method, i.e., that in protein, amino acids, urea, ammonia, nucleic acids, uric acid, and the like. Inorganic nitrogen such as nitrates, N2, and nitrogen oxides are not measured by the Kjeldahl method (13).The hypothesis that the loss of "organic" nitrogen is due to formation of N2, which then diffuses out of the egg, is discussed. METHOD AND MATERIALSFertilized eggs from chickens (Gallus domesticus) were selected at the hatchery from those laid within the previous 24 hr.The eggs were then randomlyF allocated to two groups of at least 60 each, numbered, and weighed. The control group was frozen and analyzed at once. The other group was incubated for 19 days in the hatchery, under supervision of the hatchery personnel. On the morning of the nineteenth day, most of the incubated eggs were removed from th...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…We are fully cognizant that the present paper contains no formal proof that the gaseous metabolite is indeed N2, a suggestion that has been made by others (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). A formal proof will involve incubation of eggs in closed systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Conversion of Protein Nitrogen into Gaseous Catabolites by the Chick Embryo

Costa

Kerins

Kantor

et al. 1974

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Recently the concept that nitrogen "retention" is adequately reflected by the difference between dietary intake and urine and stool excretion has been challenged (45,46). There is evidence that urine and stool excretion may not be the only sources of nitrogen loss from the body, since excess nitrogen or ammonia is also present in expired air (46)(47)(48).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic effects of human growth hormone in corticosteroid-treated children

Morris¹,

Jørgensen²,

Elrick³

et al. 1968

J. Clin. Invest.

101

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A B S T R A C T The effects of administered human growth hormone (HGH) were evaluated in dwarfed, prepubertal children who were receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy for a chronic disease. During 11 complete metabolic balance studies, the eight corticosteroid-treated children demonstrated impaired response to large doses of HGH with minimal nitrogen and no phosphorus retention. In contrast, two hypopituitary subjects and two asthmatic children not receiving corticosteroid responded to the same preparations of HGH with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus retention. Six corticosteroid-treated children were given large doses of HGH (40-120 mg/wk for 4 to 8 months and showed no improvement in their retarded rate of growth, whereas the hypopituitary subjects showed accelerated growth during administration of 10-15 mg of HGH/wk. It is concluded that dwarfism in steroid-treated children results from corticosteroid-induced antagonism of the effects of HGH at the peripheral tissue level.

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“…Entsprechende Untersu chungen zeigten, daß das Ammoniak unter experimentellen Bedin gungen tatsächlich diesen Gesetzmäßigkeiten folgt [3,4,6,9].…”

Section: Seit Dem Bekanntwerden Der Fleischintoxikation Bei Hunden Mitunclassified