Blood Phosphates in Milk Fever.

Abstract

The work of Little and Wright, 1 confirmed in our laboratory, 2 and the work of Dryerre and Greig 3 have shown that there is a marked diminution in the amount of blood calcium in cows “down” with milk fever. It occurred to the writer that since calcium and the phosphates are intimately associated in many of the processes of body metabolism, the phosphates of the blood might also be affected.

Work along this line was begun in September, 1927, and, up to this time, 18 cases of milk fever have been tested. The results have been uniform in showing a subnormal amount of the inorganic phosphate and acid soluble phosphorus by the Fiske-Subbarow method prior to the inflation of the udder. In another investigation, we have found the average for the inorganic phosphates in normal milk cows to be 4.74 mg. per 100 cc. of serum, and for dry cows 6.45 mg.-100. The average of the acid soluble phosphorus for the milk cows was 7.95 mg.-100 and for the dry cows 9.23 mg.-100. The average of the inorganic phosphorus in the dry cows was 50% higher than that of the milk cows, and the acid soluble phosphorus was likewise higher, 16%, than in the milk cows. The calcium content was found to be the same in both groups of animals.

The accepted remedy for milk fever is inflation of the udder. The effects are usually rapid, the animal recovering from its collapse or coma, and standing on its feet again, often within a period of 6-8 hours. The first blood sample was always taken just prior to udder inflation and the second sample, and occasionally a third sample. were taken at various intervals after inflation.