Some experiments on the excretion of ammonia

Abstract

In a previous article Hubbard and Munford 1 published the results of a study of the ammonia excretion in a series of cases; in the present article a similar study of a number of determinations upon a single subject is given. Determinations of the reaction and ammonia content were made upon samples of urine collected at hourly intervals through the morning from a normal man (one of the authors, E. G. A.). Experiments were carried out on thirteen days during a period of two and a half months during the summer of 1923. The food eaten for breakfast varied on the different days, but otherwise there was no noteworthy difference between the various experiments. Analyses were carried out as described in the previous paper. 1

In the first table the results of the experiments have been summarized as were those in the paper by Hubbard and Munford. All the results were listed in the order of the differences in reaction and volume, all the pairs of values of amounts of ammonia excreted and of concentrations of ammonia which varied in the same direction as the independent variable were counted, and the result expressed as per cent of the total pairs. Similar calculations have been given for specimens which varied from each other by more than 0.2 pH, by more than 5 cc., etc. The table shows that the volume and the concentration and rate of excretion of ammonia varied with the reactions of the specimens, and that the ammonia concentration varied much more closely with it than did the rate at which ammonia was excreted. These results agree with the findings given in the first article. Ammonia excretion did not vary with the volume as it did in the earlier series. Specimens with large volumes were usually excreted in the middle of the forenoon when the degree of acidity was low, and this fact may partially explain the lack of agreement.