Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nephron
I. AMINO ACIDS
II. AMMONIA
-Derived from the action of bacteria on the contents of the
colon
-Metabolized by the liver normally
-Increased plasma ammonia is toxic to the CNS
II. AMMONIA
Hyperammonia (increased ammonia)
a) Advanced liver disease (most common cause)
aa. Reyes syndrome
ab. Cirrhosis
ac. Viral hepatitis
b) Impaired renal function
ba. Blood urea is increased (increased excretion
into intestine, where it is converted to ammonia)
III. BLOOD UREA NITROGEN (BUN)
-Increased in impaired renal function
-Rises more rapidly than serum creatinine
-BUN/creatinine ratio is normally about 10:1-20:1
a)Colorimetric method:
-urea reacts with diacetyl monoxime to form a colored
complex
b)Enzymatic method:
-Urease hydrolyzes urea into ammonia which can be
measured spectrophotometrically or with an ISE
Inhibited by the anticoagulant sodium fluoride
Must NOT use this anticoagulant for ANY enzyme
analysis
IV. BLOOD URIC ACID (BUA)
-End product of purine metabolism
-Increased in gout, renal failure and leukemia
-Colorimetric method
a) Uric acid reduces phosphotungstic acid to
tungsten
blue which is measured spectrophotometrically
b) Interferents include lipids and several drugs
-Enzymatic assays
-are based on the uricase reaction in which allantoin
and H2O2 are produced and H2O2 is coupled to give a
colored product
V. CREATINE
Creatine
Phospocreatine+ADP
Creatine Kinase+ATP
-Can also be measured to evaluate renal function; NOT as
sensitive as GFR
-Reference ranges
a) Men = 0.9-1.5 mg/dL
b) Women = 0.7-1.3 mg/dL