AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS

Determination of Total Nitrogen in Urine by

Pyrochemiluminescence: Collaborative Study
BOEHM & ROSS: JOURNAL OF AOAC INTERNATIONAL VOL. 78, NO. 2, 1995
KRISTI A. BOEHM
Antek Instruments, Inc., Department of Medical and Nutrition Research, 300 Bammel Westfield Rd, Houston, TX 77090
P. FRANK ROSS
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Ames, IA
50010
Collaborators: R. Cassidy, R. Dechert, R. Helms, F. Konstantinides, A. Kopita, J.T. Methivin, J. Miller, J. Mills, J. Perez, F.
Ramazanzadeh, H. Sax, C. Snider, C. Stjern, M. Storm, M. Veldee

Twelve collaborating laboratories analyzed 5 blind

duplicate samples of human urine for total nitrogen
using a pyrochemiluminescence method. The nitrogen content ranged from low (650 mg/L) to high levels (8800 mg/L) in urine samples of people under
moderate to severe stress. In addition to test samples, collaborators also received a certified standard (sodium nitrite in water) as an external control.
The pyrochemiluminescence assay was performed
on urine samples diluted in water within a range of
1:50 to 1:100. The method detects total nitrogen by
reaction of the product of high temperature oxidative pyrolysis and ozone. Repeatability standard deviation values (RDSr) ranged from 1.49 to 3.91%
and reproducibility standard deviation values
(RSDR) ranged from 3.66 to 9.57%. The average recovery of total nitrogen was 99.9%. The pyrochemiluminescence method for determination of total nitrogen in urine was adopted first action by AOAC
INTERNATIONAL.

he primary byproducts of protein metabolism are nitrogen-bearing waste compounds, free amino acids, creatinine, creatine, uric acid, urea, and, to a limited extent,
ammonia (1). These compounds are excreted in the urine and
their quantitation allows assessment of protein metabolism in
individuals receiving specialized nutrition support, especially
in hospitalized patients (2, 3). Because the volume of urine excreted varies among individuals, nitrogen excretion is typically

Submitted for publication June 28, 1994.

The recommendation was approved by the Committee on Feeds,
Fertilizers and Agricultural Related Topics, and was adopted by the Official
Methods Board of the Association. See Official Methods Board Actions
(1994) J. AOAC Int. 77, 203A, and Official Methods Board Actions
(1994) The Referee 18, October issue.

expressed in grams per day (g N/day). In the healthy individual,

normal products of metabolism result in losses of 7
12 g N/day. Hospitalized individuals, following uncomplicated
surgical procedures, may excrete 1215 g N/day, indicative of
mild stress. Moderate stress, the result of complications such as
infection or trauma, results in nitrogen excretion in the range of
1520 g N/day. Patients who are severely stressed as the result
of multiple trauma, closed head injury, sepsis, or burns may
excrete 20 g N/day. These patients present the greatest challenge to nutrition support specialists. Losses as high as
50 g N/day have been documented (4).
Traditional Kjeldahl methods, used since the 1880s for the
measurement of nitrogen in aqueous samples, are time-consuming
and potentially dangerous due to the use of boiling acids and heavy
metals (5). A rapid, reliable method is desired for quantitation of
nitrogen losses in urine and other metabolic wastes (such as feces,
wound drainage, aspirates, etc.) to provide accurate information to
clinicians and to replace Kjeldahl methods (6, 7).
Pyrochemiluminescence (PCL) methods allow simple
measurement of total nitrogen in a variety of physiological substrates, providing valuable information required for the optimization of nutrition support of hospitalized patients. The PCL
method (6), in which the product of oxidative pyrolysis reacts
with ozone, was validated in the collaborative study described
in the present paper.
Collaborative Study
The proposed method was submitted to 12 participating
laboratories, accompanied by 5 blind duplicate samples of human urine and a commercially available certified control. The
laboratories were instructed to freeze all test samples, to store
the control at room temperature, and to perform the analysis
within 4 weeks.

Preparation of Samples
Urine was collected from a healthy volunteer for 24 h. The
total volume of urine (1150 mL) was acidified with 1 mL 6N

HCl to retain nitrogen in the form of ammonia. The urine was

then mixed and analyzed by the PCL procedure to determine
the concentration of nitrogen in the original specimen. Five
aliquots were withdrawn from urine. One aliquot remained untreated, another was spiked with urea (2800 mg N/L) to increase the nitrogen content, and the 3 remaining aliquots were
diluted with water to obtain median and lower nitrogen concentrations. Forty aliquots (ca 3.5 mL each) of each sample were
placed into separate screw-cap polypropylene vials. Vials were
separated into 2 groups of 20 each, to serve as the blind duplicate samples. Groups were labeled as follows: (1) T1 and T9
for concentration of 650 mg N/L; (2) T2 and T10 for
3000 mg/L; (3) T3 and T6 for 4500 mg/L; (4) T4 and T8 for
6000 mg/L; and (5) T5 and T7 for 8800 mg/L. Each collaborator received 10 vials (1 vial/group) that represented 5 blind duplicate samples.
The sodium nitrite control used in the assay had a certified
(by weight) nitrogen concentration of 25.00 0.13 mg/L.
994.19 Total Nitrogen in
UrinePyrochemiluminescence Method
First Action 1994
(Applicable to determination of 6658800 mg total N/L of
urine.)
(Caution: Furnace operates at a temperature >1100C and
may serve as ignition source.)
Method performance:
See Table 994.19 for method performance data.

A. Principle
Urine is diluted with nitrogen-free H2O and then injected into
oxygen-rich, high temperature pyrolysis zone (1050C). Organic
and bound nitrogen is converted to nitric oxide, which reacts with
ozone and is converted to meta-stable nitrogen dioxide. Excited
nitrogen dioxide decays and emits chemiluminescent light, which
is detected, amplified, and converted to electronic signal, proportional to total nitrogen content in sample.

B. Apparatus
(a) Furnace.Capable of heating at 1100C.
(b) Combustion tube.Quartz; equipped with inlet end
holding septum for syringe injection of samples, and quartz
sidearms for introduction of oxygen and optional inert carrier
gas (see Figures 994.19A and 994.19B).
(c) Drier tube.Equipped with semipermeable membrane.
(d) Chemiluminescence detector.Capable of measuring
light emitted from reaction between nitric oxide and ozone;
equipped with digital or strip-chart recorder. Monitor performance by assuring that 10 mg N/L standard produces 2000 detector counts above baseline.
(e) Sample injection system.Capable of injecting sample
via syringe at constant rate (1 L/sec), or delivering sample
into the furnace via boat inlet at controlled rate (see Figures
994.19C and 994.19D).

C. Reagents
(a) Oxygen.Ultra high purity (99.995%), extra dry
(<5 ppm H2O).
(b) Nitrogen-free water.<0.1 g N/mL. Use for all dilutions.
(c) Urea.ACS reagent grade; dried at 60C overnight
and cooled to room temperature in desiccator.
(d) External control.Aqueous sodium nitrite solution
with certified nitrogen concentration of 10100 mg N/L (available from High Purity Standards, Charleston, NC 29417, or
equivalent).
(e) Quartz wool.For use in sample boat; fused, coarse,
815 m diameter.

D. Preparation of Apparatus
Assemble pyroreactor-chemiluminescence detector, B(a)
(e), and check for leaks. Working conditions: syringe drive rate,
1 L/sec, or boat drive rate, 140160 mm/min; furnace temperature, 1100 25C; oxygen flow to ozone generator,
25 cm3/min; oxygen flow to pyrolysis chamber, 260
333 cm3/min; sample inlet oxygen flow 80100 cm3/min. Adjust attenuation and baseline stability; zero detector.

E. Preparation of Standards
Note: Use nitrogen-free H2O, C(b), to dilute standards and
test samples.
(a) Stock standard solution.10 000 mg N/L. Accurately
weigh 10.720 g urea, C(c), into 500 mL volumetric flask. Dilute to volume with H2O and mix well.
(b) Intermediate standard solutions.1000, 2000, 3000,
4000, 6000, 8000, and 10 000 mg N/L. Place 10, 20, 30, 40, 60,
and 80 mL stock standard solution, (a), into separate 100 mL
volumetric flasks. Dilute all solutions to mark with H2O. Use
undiluted standard stock solution, (a), for 10 000 mg N/L.
(c) Working standard solutions.0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80,
and 100 mg N/L. Prepare just before analysis. Dilute intermediate standard solutions, (b), 1:100 with H2O. As 0 g N/mL
(blank), use same H2O as for dilution of standards.

F. Preparation of Samples
Thaw frozen urine samples at room temperature or in water
bath. (Note: Do not exceed 37C.) Mix well by inversion or
using Vortex mixer. Withdraw 100 L sample from mid-tube
and place into 10 mL volumetric flask. Dilute to volume with
nitrogen-free H2O. Close tightly and mix well by inversion before analysis.

G. Preparation of Standard Curve

Bring working standard solutions, E(c), to room temperature before analysis. Rinse syringe several times with solution
to be analyzed, discarding solution between rinses. Aspirate
sample into syringe to 5 L mark. Assure that there are no bubbles in syringe. Wipe excess solution from needle using laboratory wipe tissue, and then aspirate 2 L room air into syringe
to clear solution from needle. Inject solution through silicone
septum into pyrolysis chamber. Dispense solution at controlled

rate (1 L/s). When response signal has returned to baseline,

remove needle from septum. Cool needle before aspirating next
sample. Analyze 5 L blank (H2O) in triplicate. Analyze 5 L
of each working standard solution in triplicate. Plot standard
detector counts (standard average corrected for average of
blank) on ordinate versus concentration (mg/L) on abscissa.
Using linear regression, determine the best fitting straight line.
Standard curve is acceptable only when fitted regression equation R2 0.992.

H. Determination
Bring test samples and reagents to room temperature before
analysis. Dilute test samples, F, within range of 1:50 to 1:400
with nitrogen-free H2O. (Dilution 1:25 is acceptable for very
low nitrogen concentrations.) Note: Do not run test samples
undiluted because of high salt concentration.
Analyze external control, C(d), and test samples as in G.
Run external control before analyzing test samples. Calculate
nitrogen concentration in external control as in I. Repeat analysis if nitrogen concentration is outside acceptable range.
Analyze each test sample in triplicate and calculate mean
detector response. Replicate values should be within 1.5% of
mean values. If not, repeat analysis, beginning at F, Preparation of Samples. Correct each average value for H2O blank and
calculate working concentration (concentration of nitrogen in
diluted sample). If working concentration falls outside range of
standards, re-dilute and re-analyze the sample. Multiply working concentration by dilution to determine the actual total nitrogen concentration.

I. Calculations
Calculate total nitrogen concentration, CN, in test sample:
(1) For data plotted as x-axis = concentration, mg/L; and
y-axis = detector counts, Dc.

CN = [(Dc y-intercept)/slope] dilution

(2) For data plotted as x-axis = detector counts, Dc; and yaxis = concentration.

CN = (slope Dc) + y-intercept

cause of this error, these results were excluded from the statistical analyses, which were performed on all remaining samples
on the basis of the harmonization guidelines of AOAC (8).
These results are presented in Table 994.19.
For every sample assayed, the corrected average detector
response was recorded by the collaborator. These data were
used to fit a linear regression for concentration versus detector
response. The correlation coefficient values ranged from 1.000
to 0.992. All but one laboratory reported a correlation coefficient 0.995.
The clinical interpretation of the results is based on the comparison of an individuals nitrogen intake and nitrogen excretion. Optimization of specialized nutrition support depends on
nitrogen retention and on an anabolic or catabolic state. The
duplicate samples evaluated for this study were targeted at 650,
3000, 4500, 6000, and 8800 mg N/L. The laboratory mean nitrogen concentrations for the 5 duplicates were 665, 3040,
4588, 6000, and 8797 mg N/L, respectively. The mean value
( standard deviation) for the certified control (25 mg N/L)
was 25.46 3.25 mg/L. When the lowest and highest data were
omitted, the mean result was 25.77 1.12 mg/L. Eight laboratories were within the target range of 25 mg N/L 5% (mean
25.30 0.45 mg/L). Calculations of recovery were based on
nitrogen concentration in set (5). Set (4) represented unadulterated urine (6000 mg N/mL) and set (5) was obtained by spiking
an aliquot from set (4) with 2800 mg N/L. Average recovery of
total nitrogen was 99.9%.
There were no negative comments received from the collaborating laboratories, although one laboratory reported that
the preparation of standards and the analysis of samples took
5 days, while the other 11 participating laboratories required
from 6 to 10 h to complete the study.
Recommendation
On the basis of the results of this study it is recommended
that the pyrochemiluminescence method for determination of
total nitrogen in urine be adopted first action.
Acknowledgments

Ref.: J. AOAC Int. 78, 301 (1995).

Results and Discussion
Results of analyses were received from 12 laboratories (Table 1). To introduce samples into pyrolysis chamber, 6 laboratories used the syringe drive, 3 laboratories used the autosampler, and 3 laboratories used the boat drive. Laboratory 6 had
the electronic controller touchpad replaced immediately prior
to the study. This same laboratory identified a problem with the
automatic dilutor after submitting the data. After resolving the
problem, all samples were re-analyzed and new data were submitted. No data were eliminated by the Grubbs test. Two pairs
of data [from sample sets (4) and (5)] from Laboratory 6 were
eliminated by the Cochran test because of unacceptable variance between the replicates. Laboratories 1 and 8 reported for
sample set (1) results that were outside the standard curve. Be-

We are extremely grateful to the following collaborators and

their associates for their cooperation in this study:
Richard A. Cassidy and Jesus Perez, U.S. Army, Institute of
Surgical Research, Burn Center, Fort Sam, Houston, TX
Ron Dechert and Julie Mills, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, MI
Richard A. Helms and J. Travis Methvin, University of Tennessee, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Memphis, TN
Frank Konstantinides, The Scientific Research Consortium,
St. Paul, MN
Alisone Kopita, Duke University, Critical Care Diagnostic
Services, Durham, NC
Harry Sax and Jennie Miller, University of Rochester
School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Rochester, NY
Fatemah Ramazanzadeh, Pennington Biomedical Research
Center, Baton Rouge, LA

Carolyn Snider, University of Tennessee, Department of

Anesthesiology Research, Knoxville, TN
Cheryl Stjern, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Center, Grand Forks, ND
Michael C. Storm, McGaw, Inc., Medical Department, Irvine, CA
Megan Veldee, University of Washington, Harborview
Medical Center, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seattle,
WA
References
(1) Jellinek, E.M., & Looney, J.M. (1939) J. Biol. Chem. 128,
621

(2) Helms, R.A., Mowatt-Larssen, C.A., Boehm, K.A., Christensen, M.L., Hughes, M.A., Fernandes, E.T., & Storm, M.C.
(1993) JPEN. 17, 68
(3) Skogerboe, K.J., Labbe, R.F., Rettmer, R.L., Sundquist, J.P.,
& Garget, A.M. (1990) Clin. Chem. 36, 752
(4) Konstantinides, F.N., Konstantinides, N.N., Li, J.C., Maya,
M.E., & Cerra, F.B. (1991) JPEN. 15, 189
(5) Moore, H.C. (1920) Ind. Eng. Chem. 12, 669
(6) Ward, M.W.N., Owens, C.W.I., & Rennie, M.J. (1980) Clin.
Chem. 26, 1336
(7) Konstantinides, F.N., Boehm, K.A., Radmer, W.J., Storm,
M.C., Adderly, J.T., Weisdorf, S.A., & Cerra, F.B. (1988)
Clin. Chem. 34, 2518
(8) AOAC Official Methods Program, Manual on Development,
Study, Review, and Approval Process for AOAC Official
Methods (1993), AOAC, Arlington, VA

Table 994.19. Method performance for determination of total nitrogen in urine by pyrochemiluminescencea
Total nitrogen, mg/L
Statistics
Mean, mg/L
Repeatability, r
Repeatability standard deviation, sr
Relative standard deviation, RSDr, %
Reproducibility, R
Reproducibility standard deviation, sR
Relative standard deviation, RSDR, %
a

650

3000

4500

6000

8800

665
64.7
23.1
3.5
178.1
63.6
9.6

3040
332.6
118.8
3.9
480.2
171.5
5.6

4588
353.6
126.3
2.7
570.6
203.8
4.4

6000
256.2
91.5
1.5
615.2
219.7
3.7

8797
366.0
130.7
1.5
1033.2
369.0
4.2

Outliers and laboratories with data outside the standard range were excluded from calculations.

Table 1. Collaborative study results for the determination of total nitrogen in urine by pyrochemiluminescence
Total nitrogena, mg/mL
Laboratory
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
a
b
c

650
b
602
616
670
665
713
622

746
701
703
587

3000

554
630
663
673
695
606

737
782
735
589

3143
2974
3273
3108
3137
3076
3226
2802
3077
2718
2780
2993

4500
2767
2958
3210
3209
3113
3041
3279
3112
3201
2769
3033
2962

4617
4412
4891
4565
4722
4479
4572
4403
4740
4069
4765
4663

6000
4740
4459
4850
4765
4660
4474
4858
4421
4696
4311
4336
4636

6052
5900
c
6214c
6148
6347
5895
6368
6030
6085
5537
5880
6114

8800
5753
5823
c
5592c
6178
6185
5912
6331
6001
5913
5681
5811
6050

8627
8438
c
8573c
8894
9264
9407
8952
8839
8793
8266
7975
8903

Blind duplicate samples.

Working concentration of nitrogen for the sample fell outside the range of standards. Sample was eliminated from the data set.
Outlier by Cochran test; data excluded from the statistical analysis.

8629
8455
c
7520c
8999
9182
9486
8889
8759
8844
8557
8479
8890

Figure 994.19A. Direct inject quartz combustion tube.

Figure 994.19B. Boat inlet quartz combustion tube.

Figure 994.19C. Direct inject syringe drive.

Figure 994.19D. Boat inlet system.