Lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri: activities of ornithine-urea cycle and enzymes

The level of activity of the ornithine-urea cycle is low in the liver of the permanently aquatic Australian lungfish. The rate of incorporation of (14)C-bicarbonate into urea by liver slices was only 100th of that previously observed in the estivating African lungfish Protopterus dolloi. The activities of enzymes of the ornithine-urea cycle were similarly reduced. The low activity of this cycle in Neoceratodus is consistent with its exclusively aquatic nature.