DO THE VARIATIONS OF WATER PCO2 AND PH INFLUENCE THE NITROGEN CATABOLISM AND ITS END-PRODUCTS, AMMONIA AND UREA, IN THE CLAWED FROG XENOPUS-LAEVIS

The effects of P(CO2) and pH changes in the ambient water on the nitrogen catabolism and the proportions of the excreted nitrogenous end products, ammonia and urea, were studied in the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, at 24-degrees-C. In animals living in artificial fresh water, the exposure to a hypocapnic alkalosis (P(CO2) = 0.7 Torr instead of 10 Torr) did not entail any change in the nitrogen catabolism. In animals who lived in a water loaded with NaCl and had therefore a higher oxygen consumption, an intense nitrogen catabolism and a marked ureotelism ([1], [2]), the hypocapnic alkalosis seems to have increased the intensity of the nitrogen catabolism. In neither group were there signs of ammonia toxicity.