sources/disease correlations

• ammonia comes from the deamination of amino acids in the intestines, metabolic production in skeletal muscles (during exercise)
• hepatic encephalopathy - personality changes and coma from toxic ammonia levels
• • Reye’s syndrome - Most common in children; Often fatal; Viral illness treated by aspirin; Acute hepatic metabolic disorder (fatty infiltration); NH4 level corresponds to prognosis; See increased AST, ALT, abnormal levels of coagulation factors (clotting time increases)