title: Some pitfalls and considerations of plasma ammonia estimation.
abstract: Several approaches to the estimation of plasma ammonia have been tested and compared: indophenol, Nessler, iodometric techniques were studied as well as enzymatic spectrophotometric and radiometric methods. Their lower safe limits of estimation were determined and it was found that most of them were not viable for plasma estimations because of its very low ammonia levels. The need for a concentration/purification step and the lack of repetability in this phase at very low concentrations, made very unreliable the utilization of all methods studied except for the enzymatic radiometric method tested that was barely usable for plasma ammonia estimations.
authors.affiliation: Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Ciències Químiques de Tarragona, Universitat de Barcelona, Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zamora
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alemany
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000097:blood*; D000818:Animals; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005260:Female; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012015:Reference Standards; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D000641:Ammonia