Protein metabolism in uraemia.

Protein metabolism in uraemia is reviewed. Very few, if any, disorders of amino acid metabolism can at present confidently be attributed to uraemia per se rather than to protein/energy deprivation. Retained urea nitrogen is recycled to the liver as ammonia; a proportion is reutilized for synthesis of non-essential amino acids and, if their carbon skeletons are supplied, for synthesis of essential amino acids. Practical applications of the reutilization of non-amino nitrogen in advanced chronic renal failure are being explored. Nevertheless, uraemic individuals readily become undernourished, and they should receive as much protein as their symptoms will permit.