Protective effect of long term ammonium ingestion against acute ammonium intoxication

Rats were fed for 15 days a diet containing ammonium acetate (20% w/w) and then injected i. p. with ammonium acetate (7 mmol/Kg). Only 1 out of 18 control rats but 9 of 18 rats fed ammonium survived, indicating a protective effect of ammonium ingestion against an acute ammonia challenge. Blood ammonia returned to normal levels sooner in hyperammonemic rats, suggesting more rapid detoxication. In controls, blood urea levels rose immediately reaching a maximum at 15 min, however in hyperammonemic rats urea levels did not change during the first hour, then rose slowly up to 3 hours. These results suggest that in the ammonium fed rats ammonia is initially sequestered and finally eliminated as urea.