The Distribution of Injected 32 P in Transient Hyperammonemia in the Chick and Rat

Abstract

Summary

The distribution of injected ³²P was studied in the mildly hyperammonemic chick and rat. Ammonia toxicity in the chick resulted in decreased accumulation of ³²P in the tibia (p<.001) and decreased level of labeling in the inorganic phosphate fraction of blood (p<.001). Toxicity in the rat also resulted in decreased accumulation of label in the tibia (p<.005), but increased incorporation in the liver (p<.005), kidney (p<.005), and urine (p<.001), indicating that injected ammonia probably converted inorganic phosphate into a form that was eventually treated by the body as a waste product. Changes in organic blood metabolites accompanying ammonia toxicity in the chick paralleled those described earlier for the rat and pig.

The results of this study represent the first direct evidence that low doses of ammonia administered to laboratory animals interfere with phospate metabolism.