Abstract
Booher and Killian 1 first reported that abnormally large amounts of acetone bodies were associated in human subjects with conditions of uncompensated alkalosis which arose either from an excessive alkali administration or from the loss of HCl by excessive vomiting. Butts and Deuel 2 previously showed that no sex differences occurred in the slight ketonuria which occurs in fasting rats previously fed on a high carbohydrate liver-free diet although a definite sex variability was demonstrated in rats to which diacetic acid was administered. In the present tests sodium bicarbonate was fed to fasting rats in a dose of 2.17 mg. per sq. cm. of body surface by stomach tube in 3 divided doses daily. This corresponds with the alkali intake in tests in which sodium acetoacetate was administered in an amount of 1.5 mg. per sq. cm. per day (calculated as acetone). The acetone body excretion with the male rats over a 4-day experimental period averaged 5.3, 8.6, 5.8, and 6.1 mg. per day for 14 rats on the first day and 11 animals on the other days which corresponds with an excretion of 0.14, 0.24, 0.16, and 0.17 gm. per sq. meter of body surface respectively. The females developed an appreciable ketonuria in distinction to the almost blank values on the males. Thus, the acetone body excretion in the urine gave a mean of 21.3, 39.6, 39.2, and 37.4 mg. of acetone of 14 rats on the first day and 11 on each of 3 following days. The values calculated on the basis of grams per square meter of body surface per day were 0.77, 1.39, 1.39, and 1.32 gm. respectively. A normal response to diacetic acid administration was demonstrated on a control day. The experiments show the greater susceptibility of the female rat to alkalosis than the male.
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