This work was supported by DOE contract #DE-AMO3-76-SF00012 and NIH Grants ROI-GM-24839-01 and 515654-01. and amino acid metabolism. However, due to the complexities involved in the extraction and retention of 18 NH, in these organs, more extensive studies are required to better understand the potential uses of this tracer.Phelps et al., 4 using positron computed tomography (PCT) with normal volunteers, showed that the relative "N concentrations in structures of the brain were in good agreement with the relative capillary densities and/or cerebral blood flow (CBF). Subsequently, Phelps et al. 6 demonstrated in the monkey that the unidirectional extraction fraction of 18 NH, by the brain was 1) less than 100% at normal values of CBF, 2) inversely related to CBF, 3) unaffected by blood ammonia concentrations from 80 to 1400 /xg% and insensitive to changes in arterial blood pH over the range of 7.2 and 7.7, 4) decreased by about 24% during hypoglycemic coma and 5) was limited by capillary permeability.