Pancreatic and duodenal ammonia in dogs: lowering by glucose infusion

Ammonia is produced by some organs and removed by others. Glucose may influence ammonia formation. The contribution of the pancreas to ammonia metabolism is unknown. This study compares pancreatic and duodenal venous ammonia to arterial ammonia in dogs. Pancreatic venous ammonia exceeds arterial ammonia by a factor of 2.8 (range 1.3-9.3); and duodenal ammonia by a factor of 1.1 (range 0.9-2.8). Duodenal venous exceeds arterial ammonia by a factor of 2.4 (range 0.8-5.8). High-dose glucose infusion decreased pancreatic venous ammonia by approximately one-third and duodenal venous ammonia by approximately one quarter, but left arterial ammonia virtually unaltered. The mechanism of pancreatic ammonia production is unknown. We postulate that it may be related to pancreatic bicarbonate synthesis, binding the hydrogen ions which are liberated during this process.