Urea: what is it, and what does its increase or decrease in blood say?

Having received a sheet with a print of the biochemical blood test, you can find in it the indicator "urea". "What is it?" The patients ask the question. Modern apparatus-hemanalysers performing a blood test and automatically counting the results, also indicate whether this indicator is increased or decreased. Not surprisingly, the discovery of formidable inscriptions that there are some changes scares people. "I have reduced or increased urea in my blood. What is it and what is it that threatens me? "- such questions are heard in the therapist's office and are driven into the browser search bar. Let's try to figure it out.

What kind of substance: urea

From the point of view of chemistry, it is a diamide of carbonic acid. In humans and animals, this substance is one of the final products of the breakdown of protein molecules. Complex proteins are split down to simple, then comes the turn of the second. As a result, the body receives amino acids, of which protein molecules were composed. And after the cleavage of the latter, a toxic substance, ammonia, is formed. It is brought by a current of blood into the liver, where by means of several biochemical reactions urea is formed from it. What is it is now clear.

Why do we determine the content of urea in the blood?

What happens next with this substance? For nothing, it is not used in the body and must be completely removed from the body. It is excreted from the body through the kidneys with urine.

Thus, for a doctor performing a biochemical blood test, urea, or more precisely, its quantity, is an indicator of the quality of the kidneys' performance, their functional capacity. It is also possible to indirectly study the liver function, which synthesizes these organic molecules. Here's what the line for "urea" is on the blood test sheet. What is it, and what doctors determine how much it is in our body, we figured out. Now we should talk about what the deviations of its values in the blood from normal indicators mean.

The significance of changes in the content of this substance

Increased urea in the blood is observed when:

• Inaccuracies in the diet (high protein intake);
• Increased physical exertion and diseases with the disintegration of proteins (tumors, severe chronic ailments, endocrine disorders);
• Diseases of the kidneys, heart, vessels (pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis, amyloidosis, heart failure, abnormalities of the renal vessels).

Reduction of urea in the blood occurs when:

• Veggie (low consumption of proteins);
• Liver damage (hepatitis, cirrhosis, neoplasm);
• Diseases of the intestine with a violation of protein digestion and absorption of amino acids (inflammation, postoperative conditions, parasitic lesions);
• Diseases of the pancreas, accompanied by a decrease in the release of enzymes (pancreatitis).

In general it became clear that the indicator "urea" is used to assess the functions of the kidneys and liver, but even if there is a deviation from the norm in the blood, there is no need to panic. It is necessary to study the amount of urea in the urine, and also pay attention to the evaluation of other performance indicators of these internal organs.