The factors of dehydration in rabbits following pyloric obstruction.

Abstract

Data obtained from rabbits consist of measurements of water, chlorides, and fixed base in the gastric contents of controls and after obstruction of the pylorus. They show (Tables 1 and 2), following obstruction, a loss of water, chlorides and fixed base into the stomach of from 2 to 3 times an estimated initial total plasma content.

A chief point of these findings is the large loss of fixed base. From the point of view of repair of dehydration following pyloric obstruction, the loss of base is more significant than the loss of chloride ion, for the reason that it represents an absolute depletion of the body's content of dissolved electrolytes, whereas loss of chloride ion is replaced by bicarbonate ion. Replacement of base is thus indicated as the essential factor in the beneficial action of injections of NaC1 solution in the presence of pyloric obstruction.

Haden and Orr, 1 however, regard the action of NaC1 solution as protective against a toxic substance rather than simply reparative of dehydration. They state that the chloride lowering in the plasma following pyloric obstruction can only in part be explained by a loss in gastric secretion, since they find that it occurs when there is little vomiting and in rabbits which cannot vomit. They suggest that chloride leaves the plasma in offensive quest of a toxic substance. The data here given demonstrate that although these rabbits did not vomit, they nevertheless lost into their stomachs several times the total plasma capacity for chloride. That any chloride at all is found in the plasma proves a movement in the direction opposite from that surmised by Haden and Orr. The chloride lowering in the plasma is thus, as might be expected, shown to be referablle to circumstances affecting body fluid adjustments.