Table 4.

Results for urea cycle intermediates are shown

	Chemical shift	Cirrhosis	Encephalopathy	Controls
Glutamine	2.46	0.44 ± 0.08b	0.36 ± 0.04b	0.63 ± 0.03
Glutamate	2.36	1.36 ± 0.25d	0.84 ± 0.16a	0.58 ± 0.04
Histidine	7.83	0.16 ± 0.01b	0.18 ± 0.02b	0.36 ± 0.04
Arginine	1.93	0.08 ± 0.01b	0.1 ± 0.01b	0.14 ± 0.02

Glutamine, histidine and arginine concentrations were significantly lower in patients than controls (^bP < 0.01 in all cases). Glutamate concentrations were significantly higher in cirrhotics (^dP < 0.01) compared to controls. It was also significantly increased if we compared encephalopathics with controls (^aP < 0.05).