The preformed ammonia content of skeletal muscle and liver in experimental anuria.

The toxicity of urea in mammals has long been a vexed question. Although most investigations seem to suggest that this snbstanee, as sueh, is not toxic, the possibility still exists that a sustained high level of urea in the blood may, in accordance with the law of mass action, result in tlie accumulation of intermediary nitrogenous compounds whieh are toxic. Since it has been shown (Schmidt et al., 1950) that the concentration of amino acids in the plasma remains within normal limits in renal insufficiencĵ , it would seem reasonable to assume that in this condition the process of deamination in the liver is not suppressed. The question thus arises, whether a high blood urea level, in the presence of continued deamination of amino acids, might not lead to an accumulation of ammonium ion. The following investigation was carried out in order to examine this possibility.