Control by pH of urea synthesis in isolated rat hepatocytes.

Control by pH of urea synthesis has been studied in isolated rat hepatocytes incubated with a physiological mixture of amino acids. Inhibition of urea synthesis by decreasing the pH of the medium was caused by diminished production of ammonia and not, as suggested in the literature, by inhibition of entry of ammonia into the ornithine cycle. The decrease by low pH of the rate of degradation of the added amino acids, that of alanine being quantitatively the most important, was accompanied by a decrease in their intracellular concentration. It is concluded that inhibited transport of amino acids across the plasma membrane of the hepatocyte is responsible, at least in part, for the fall in urea synthesis with decreasing pH. It is proposed that inhibition by low pH of other steps in the ureogenic pathway, distal to the production of ammonia, does not affect flux through the ornithine cycle per se, but rather contributes to the buffering of the intrahepatic concentration of ammonia.