Abstract
The subcutaneous administration of morphine (morphine sulphate, 10 mg. per kilo body weight) to fasting dogs results in the excretion of a strongly alkaline urine, which may persist for a period of twenty-four hours or more. The alkalinity is undoubtedly due to the presence of carbonates since addition of acid to the urine causes effervescence of carbon dioxide. After the urine has resumed its usual acid character a subsequent injection of morphine may fail to elicit an alkaline urine although the hydrogen ion concentration may be diminished appreciably. On the day of morphine introduction there is usually a definite increase in the elimination of the total urinary nitrogen.
Rabbits fasted until they excrete a strongly acid urine show no significant change in the hydrogen ion concentration of the urine nor is the total nitrogen altered even though very large doses (80 mg. per kilo) of morphine are subcutaneously introduced. These results are in accord with the well-known resistance of rabbits to morphine narcosis.
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