Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Human Nutrition, School of Science and Clinical ResearchCenter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.antoine@crc.mit.edu
Abstract
We investigated in six healthy adult men, who received an adequate intake of protein (1 g.kg-1.day-1), the relationship among urea production, excretion, and hydrolysis. At the end of a 6-day diet-adjustment period, subjects were studied using a 24-h continuous intravenous [1-13C]leucine and [15N,15N]urea tracer protocol (A. E. El-Khoury, N. K. Fukagawa, M. Sanchez, R. H. Tsay, R. E. Gleason, T. E. Chapman, and V. R. Young. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 59: 1000-1011, 1994) to determine rates of irreversible protein nitrogen loss and urea kinetics. By combining leucine and urea kinetic data, we found a significant degree of urea hydrolysis over the 24-h period but no evidence to support the thesis that there is a net retention or "salvage" of the urea nitrogen liberated. Our measurements revealed little or no urea hydrolysis during the fed 12-h period of the 24-h tracer protocol but substantial hydrolysis during the 12-h fasting phase. Furthermore, a mass balance model and calculations (APPENDIX) indicated that nitrogen salvage, if any, is quantitatively indistinguishable from insensible nitrogen losses and aggregate estimation errors, accounting for no more than 5% of the nitrogen intake. We conclude that urea hydrolysis, via the intestinal microflora, although representing a component of the overall cycles of nitrogen flow within the body, does not contribute via a net retention of amino nitrogen to the maintenance of body nitrogen homeostasis in healthy adults consuming an adequate diet.
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Subject
Physiology (medical),Physiology,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Cited by
24 articles.
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