A STUDY OF THE WATER LOSSES THROUGH THE SKIN IN THE RAT

Abstract

Separate detns. of the amts. of water lost insensibly through the skin and from the respiratory tract of the rat have been made under normal environmental conditions and under conditions approximating those of the tropics. The amt. of water lost through the skin was 74% of the total insensible loss in anesthetized rats under both temperate and tropical conditions, and 57% in non-anesthetized rats under temperate conditions. No expts. were run with non-anesthetized rats under tropical conditions. In anesthetized rats under temperate conditions the body temp. dropped and the total insensible loss was lower than that of anesthetized rats under tropical conditions in which the body temperature remained normal. The total loss in the latter group was the same as that of non-anesthetized rats under temperate conditions. Since the rat has few if any functional sweat glands, the loss of water through the skin is probably a process of diffusion rather than of secretion.