Abstract
Malfunction of the liver involves disturbances of urea synthesis and ammonia detoxification. These phenomena became apparent, especially during ammonia loading of patients. The functional state of the liver can be assessed by oral administration of 15NH4Cl and subsequent analysis of 15N-urea and 15N-ammonia in urine by emission spectrometry. Clinical tests based on the ratio of the excess abundances (see Appendix) of 15N-ammonia to 15N-urea excreted in urine 3 h after oral administration gave values for patients with liver disease which differed significantly from those for healthy subjects. Absorption disturbances, which often accompany liver diseases, do not influence the effectiveness of the method.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cerotti G (1978) Other non-protein nitrogenous compounds. In: Curtius HC, Roth M (eds) Clinical biochemistry, principles and methods. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin New York, p 1122
Conway EJ (1957) Microdiffusion and volumetric error. Crosby Luckwood, London, p 90
Faust H, Reinhardt R (1977) Sample preparation methods for automatized emission spectrometric analysis of nitrogen-15 in biological samples. Stable isotopes in life sciences. Proceedings of a Technical Committee Meeting Leipzig, 14–18 February 1977. IAEA, Vienna, pp 179–187
Faust H, Jung K, Krumbiegel P (1981a) Stabile Isotope in der medizinischen Forschung. Isotopenpraxis 17:193–200
Faust H, Bornhak H, Hirschberg K, Jung K, Junghans P, Krumbiegel P, Reinhardt R (1981b) Klinisch-chemische und isotopenanalytische Methoden zur Untersuchung des Stickstoff-Stoffwechsels mit N-15 beim Menschen. Methodenkatalog Zfl-Mitteilg Nr. 36
Faust H, Junghans P, Matkowitz R, Hartig W, Jung K (1981c) Estimation of protein turnover in patients with liver diseases using 15N-labelled glycine. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference, Juelich, 23–26 March 1981. In: Schmidt HL, Förstel H, Heinzinger K (eds) Stable isotopes. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 319–324
Gerok W, Pausch J (1968) Vergleichende Untersuchungen ueber Ammoniakbestimmungen im Blut. Z Gesamte Exp Med 148:337–354
Gerok W, Talke H, Maier KP (1979) Störungen des Protein- und Aminosäurestoffwechsels In: Kuehn HA, Wernze H (eds) Klinische Hepatologie. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart, p 3.28
Gerstenberger H, Meier G (1981) Die Stellung der Emissionsspektrometrie unter den nichtmassenspektrometrischen Methoden der Isotopenanalyse. Isotopenpraxis 17:150–155
Gips CH, Que GS (1974) The oral arterial ammonia test in cirrhosis of liver, with a note on the role of esophagus varices. Acta Hepato-Gastroenterol 21:20–25
Hartig W, Czarnetzki HD, Faust H, Hirschberg K, Jung K, Junghans P, Wetzel K, Willgerodt H (1978) Die Bedeutung des stabilen Stickstoffisotops 15N für die humanmedizinische Forschung und Praxis. DDR-Medizin Report 7:563–611
Hartig W, Matkowitz R, Junghans P, Jung K (1982) Protein synthesis after experimental injury in pigs. Clin Nutr 1:159–167
Jung K, Faust H (1984) Ammoniakbestimmung in Blutproben durch 15N-Isotopenverduennungsanalyse. GDR Patent Appl.
Junghans P, Jung K, Matkowitz R (1983) Standardisierte 15N-Tracermethodik zur Bestimmung von Parametern des Ganzkoerper-Proteinstoffwechsels in der klinischen Praxis. ZfI-Mitteilg Nr. 88:23
Karlson P, Gerok W, Gross W (1978) Pathobiochemie. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart, pp 264–274
Keller H, Mueller-Beisenhirz W (1965) Eine einfache Methode zur Bestimmung des Blutammoniaks. Z Anal Chem 212:145
Krumbiegel P, Hirschberg K, Faust H, Günther K, Schneider G (1984) Nuclear medical liver function test for pregnants and children. 2. A new test method via urine using [15N]methacetin. Eur J Nucl Med (in press)
Matkowitz R, Junghans P, Jung K, Hartig W, Faust H (1983) Standardisierte 15N Tracermethode zur Beurteilung des Proteinstoffwechsels fuer die klinische Praxis. Infusionsther Klin Ernähr 10:268–275
Mueting D, Heinze J, Momper M, Schwarz M, Schmidt FH (1970) Zur Methodik und klinischen Bedeutung der Blutammoniakbestimmung. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 95:1390–1396
Nissim I, Yudkoff M, Young W, Terwilliger T, Segal S (1981) Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination of [15N]ammonia enrichment in blood and urine. Anal Biochem 114:125–130
Pöge AW (1980) Zur Ausschaltung der artifiziellen Ammoniakbildung in vitro. Z Ärztl Fortbild (Jena) 74:22–24
Wagner K, Schmidt T, Schimmelpfennig W, Zimmermann HB, Buerger K, Schneider G (1974) Vergleichende Untersuchungen zum Ammoniaktoleranztest (ATT) mittels verschiedener Ammoniumsalze. In: Imler M, Szam I (eds) Recent progress in ammonia metabolism. Gerhard Witzstrock, Baden-Baden Brussel, pp 15–19
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jung, K., Hirschberg, K., Faust, H. et al. A liver-function test using 15N-labelled ammonium chloride. Eur J Nucl Med 11, 62–64 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00252134
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00252134