title: Lipid metabolites and nitrogen balance after abdominal surgery in man.
abstract: The relation of lipid metabolism to nitrogen balance was studied in patients having undergone abdominal surgery and was compared with control subjects who had fasted for a similar period. The patients had lower circulating concentrations of glycerol, non-esterified fatty acids and ketone bodies. There were inverse correlations between blood alanine and ketone body concentrations in both patients (r = -0.64, P less than 0.01) and controls (r = -0.58, P less than 0.01). Nitrogen excretion by patients (12.7 mmol/kg body weight/day +/- 1.4 s.e. mean) was greater than by controls (9.2 mmol kg(-1)d(-1) +/- 0.8, P less than 0.05), but a more marked difference was noted for urinary methyl histidine excretion of 5.1 +/- 0.5 mmumol kg(-1) d(-1) by patients and only 2.5 +/- 0.3 mumol kg(-1) d(-1) by controls (P less than 0.01), a disparity indicative of more active protein turnover after surgery.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000409:Alanine / Q000097:blood; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006639:Histidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006728:Hormones / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008297:Male; D008762:Methylhistidines / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000652:urine*; D011184:Postoperative Period
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006728:Hormones; D008762:Methylhistidines; D006639:Histidine; D009584:Nitrogen; D000409:Alanine