THE TOXIC EFFECTS OF UREA ON NORMAL INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

In order to throw light on the nature of uremia, many investigators have studied the physiologic effects produced when urea is administered to or injected into animals. The majority of those who have undertaken such studies were unable to demonstrate that urea acted as a poison. Only a few have succeeded in producing definite toxic effects. For example, Herter and Wakeman,¹as well as Marshall and Davis,²found that approximately 1 per cent. of the body weight must be injected into animals in order to produce a fatal result. Ascoli,³in reviewing the earlier literature, has sought to explain the occasional toxic effects observed on one or more of the following assumptions: (1) the urea used was not pure, (2) it was injected intravenously in too concentrated a solution, or (3) where used in dilute solution the effects were attributable to the excessive amounts of liquid