Abstract
L-Alanine is transaminated to ammonia, which enters the urea cycle, thereby stimulating production of urea. An intravenous L-alanine load, followed by measurement of end-products of the urea cycle, including urinary orotic acid excretion, and calculations of the rate of urea synthesis, time of maximal urea synthesis and the kinetics of plasma ammonia, ornithine, glutamate and glutamine, permits characterisation of a minimal or latent enzyme defect in this cycle. Gross defects of the cycle will have presented already with marked basal hyperammonemia.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lascelles, P.T., Donaldson, D. (1989). L-Alanine Load Test1. In: Diagnostic Function Tests in Chemical Pathology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1846-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1846-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7462-0107-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1846-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive