Abstract
In the course of studies of the chemical composition of the blood to determine the relative importance of certain variations which may contribute to the picture of tetany following parathyroidectomy the guanidine concentration has been determined. The interest in guanidine bases originated in the work of Paton and collaborators 1 , 2 who believed that guanidine accumulated as a result of parathyroid deficiency and was the cause of parathyroid tetany.
The method we used for the determination of guanidine was that of Major and Weber, 3 with minor adaptations as described by Minot and Dodd. 4 Our results on 28 parathyroidectomized dogs are shown in Table I. Although in some instances the guanidine was not determined in the blood before operation the figures which are presented on normal dogs are within the limits of 0.35 to 0.45 mg. per 100 cc, which we have found to be the normal range as determined by this method in a large number of dogs. The results in the column marked “tetany ”were obtained on samples of blood drawn when the symptoms were of varying intensity. Some were taken at the onset of symptoms, some during mild tetany and others during severe general convulsions. About 50% of the dogs in this series show an increase in blood guanidine. The rest, although showing equally typical and severe symptoms of tetany, had no significant increase in guanidine. Hyperguanidinemia, therefore, cannot be the basic cause of parathyroid tetany.
The vast amount of work which has been reported in the literature indicates clearly that parathyroid tetany results primarily from a disturbance in calcium metabolism. Furthermore the only known function of the parathyroid glands is their role in regulating the calcium metaboli sm in the bodv.
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