Plasma amino acid and venous blood ammonia concentrations were measured in six patients with well-compensated cirrhosis and in six healthy volunteers, both in the fasting state and serially for 5 h following ingestion of 30 g mixed protein and 30 g amino acid mixture, administered on separate occasions. Mean fasting plasma concentrations of threonine, serine, proline, glycine, and of the three branched-chain amino acids, valine, isoleucine and leucine, were significantly reduced in the cirrhotic patients compared with the control subjects, while mean (+/- 1 s.d.) fasting venous blood ammonia concentrations were comparable 71.2 +/- 31.4 cf. 56.0 +/- 25.4 mumol/L. Following the oral protein and amino acid loads, increases were observed in plasma amino acid concentrations in the majority of subjects with a return to baseline values by the end of the study. Changes in the circulating concentrations of most amino acids were independent of their concentration in the oral protein and amino acid loads, and their relative distribution in the circulation varied over time. The increases in the concentrations of the three branched-chain amino acids did, however, reflect their concentrations in the two nitrogen loads and did remain constant, relative to one another, over time. There were wide intra- and inter-individual variations in plasma amino acid concentrations following protein and amino acid ingestion in both study groups, and in general no significant differences in responses were observed between them. Similarly, no significant inter-group differences were observed in the ammonia response to the two nitrogen loads. No fundamental differences exist in the ways in which patients with well-compensated cirrhosis handle oral protein or amino acid loads of the magnitude employed in the present study.