Mechanism of arginine protection against ammonia intoxication in the rat

To examine the beneficial effect of arginine on ammonia intoxication, rats were injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of NH4Cl (6.75 mmol/kg) with and without arginine (5.0 mmol/kg) or ornithine (5.0 mmol/kg). Arginine or ornithine reduced the blood ammonia nitrogen at 30 min after NH4Cl injection from 3,288 +/- 800 micrograms/dl (mean +/- SE) to 538 +/- 90 and 575 +/- 34 micrograms/dl, respectively. In rats administered this dose of NH4Cl, arginine or ornithine did not increase further the hepatic carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase (EC 6.3.4.16) activation by N-acetylglutamate beyond the effect of NH4Cl. However, arginine or ornithine did increase the hepatic citrulline and urea content as well as the plasma urea concentration in these NH4Cl-injected rats. In rats injected with four doses of NH4Cl (2.5 mmol/kg), arginine or ornithine pretreatment increased the urea excretion and normalized the orotic acid excretion. These results indicate that arginine mitigates ammonia intoxication in the rat by increasing ornithine carbamoyltransferase activity through increased ornithine availability and not via activation of N-acetylglutamate synthetase. By increasing ornithine carbamoyltransferase activity, ornithine enhances the conversion of ammonia to citrulline and urea.