Muscle Composition in Infection
Abstract
Alterations occur in human electrolyte balance and serum concentration during infectious diseases. Electrolyte metabolism has been investigated in rhesus monkeys with a sublethal illness induced by intravenous inoculation with Salmonella typhimurium. Response to illness was evaluated by measurements of serum and muscle electrolyte composition and renal function. In the animals with ad labitum dietary intake, a loss in muscle and serum potassium concentrations became evident within 24 hours after inoculation during the febrile phase of illness. Serum and muscle K concentrations returned to normal after five days of illness. During convalescence, a renal retention of sodium was marked and overlapped a period of weight loss and increasing urine volume. This asynchrony in return of normal renal function appeared to be the cause of relatively large swings in plasma sodium concentrations during the early convalescent period. These investigations indicate that the altered serum concentrations in infectious diseases are a complex algebraic sum of renal and extrarenal factors which control electrolyte metabolism, and further, that some of the most remarkable alterations occur during early convalescence as renal function returns to normal. Keywords: Serum electrolyte concentration; Sepsis, Serium sodium and Potassium; Fever, Water retention.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA177589
Entities
People
- Buford L. Nichols
- C. F. Hazlewood
- C. T. Liu
- G. L. Bilbrey
- S. L. Kimzey
Organizations
- Baylor College of Medicine