Free amino acids in plasma and muscle following total removal of the liver.

In 1924 and 1926 Bollman, Mann, and Magath showed that when the liver is removed the formation of urea ceases (1) and the concentration of free amino acids gradually increases in the plasma, tissues, and urine of the dog (1, 2). Techniques are now available for the determination of the individual amino acids which might be involved. By means of microbiologic or chemical techniques Svec (3) has found that five amino acids, tryptophan, lysine, glutamic acid, alanine, and glycine, increase in the plasma of the dog after hepatectomy, while two, methionine and histidine, decrease. By means of paper chromatography we have found an increase in the same five amino acids studied by Svec and also in ten additional amino acids or derivatives in the plasma of the dehepatized dog. We have also noted some changes in the concentration of amino acids in muscle, but in general these changes in muscle were much less distinct than in the plasma when studied with this technique.