Russian Consensus “Hyperammonemia in Adults”

Abstract

The human body, like any other, is an intermediate component of the nitrogen cycle in nature. Consuming nitrogen from the external environment in the form of various compounds, the body processes it into ammonia - one of the final products of exchange of nitrogen-containing substances [1], which is removed from the body in the form of urea. The most active ammonia producers are organs with high exchange of amino acids and biogenic amines - nerve tissue, liver, intestine, and muscles. In a state of nitrogen equilibrium, the adult body consumes and releases about 15 g of nitrogen per day, temporary or permanent disruption of nitrogen balance results in a great number of physiological conditions and diseases, and the need to stabilize it is well known. However, despite a huge number of studies on the role of nitrogen metabolism and its compounds in the clinic, to date we have not been able to find any conciliation document in the world literature on the classification of ammonia-ammonium levels in human blood and approaches to the correction of hyperammonemia, which was the basis for the emergence of this consensus.