Renal ammonia release during ammonium chloride acidosis

¹ Departments of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center and Veterans Administration Hospital, Durham, North Carolina

The effect of prolonged oral ammonium chloride administration on the simultaneous release of ammonia into urine and renal venous blood was examined in the dog. Quantitatively, chronic ammonium chloride acidosis was accompanied by an almost identical average elevation of both urine ammonia excretion and renal venous ammonia release. Although not definitive, the results are entirely consistent with the prevailing concept that ammonia enters urine and renal venous blood via a pH-dependent process of non-ionic diffusion.

Key Words: renal ammonia production • ammonia release into urine and renal venous blood

Submitted on July 22, 1964