Tubular secretion of creatine, trimethylamine oxide, and other organic bases by the aglomerular kidney of Lophius americanus.

Creatine and trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) are the chief nitrogenous constituents of normal Lophius urine, and both of these organic bases characteristically have high urine/plasma concentration ratios. Competition studies involving various organic bases indicate that creatine and TMAO are excreted independently by separate transport mechanisms. TMAO excretion is inhibited competitively by tetraethylammonium ion (TEA) and by cyanine dye No. 863-compounds previously shown to be transferred actively by an organic base-secreting mechanism of general occurrence among vertebrates. TEA does not inhibit competitively the active tubular reabsorption of TMAO in Squalus with doses which markedly depress its tubular excretion in Lophius. Glycine, which inhibits creatine reabsorption in the dog, does not interfere competitively with its secretion in Lophius.