BODY COMPOSITION STUDIES ON THE SUCKLING PIG: II. THE IN-VIVO DETERMINATION OF TOTAL BODY WATER

Abstract
The method of Keston et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 122, 227) for the in-vivo determination of total body water when applied to the growing piglet has been evaluated and found to produce values in good agreement with those obtained by desiccation of the same animals.The densitometric method for the determination of deuterium oxide provides results of sufficient precision when considered in relation to the other unavoidable errors involved in work with live animals. The relative simplicity of the techniques and equipment in the present investigation recommend them for more extensive use in sequential studies of the body composition of growing animals.