In: Biology
How is intracellular ammonia removed from
a) muscle tissue?
b) liver tissue?
A. In muscle tissue, excess ammonia is conjugated with pyruvate (amination) to form alanine. The amino acid alanine is the non toxic transport form of ammonia that is released into blood, travels to liver, is taken up by hepatocytes and is deaminated to form pyruvate and releases ammonia. Thus muscle cells remove ammonia by alanine formation.
B. In liver tissue, ammonia undergoes a multistep complex cyclw called Urea Cycle by which ammonia is converted to urea, a much less toxic form. Urea is excreted via kidney through urine formation. Liver is the ultimate organ scavenging and removing ammonia via urea formation.