Electrolyte Transfer During Hypothermia and Anoxia in Dogs

Abstract

Electrolyte changes were studied during artificial respiration and hypothermia in dogs which had been equilibrated with K⁴², Na²⁴ or B⁸². In the hypothermic animals potassium in plasma, potassium and sodium in skeletal muscle and potassium in auricle decreased, whereas bromide in the auricle increased. In normothermic animals anoxia produced an increase of bromide in the skeletal muscle and of sodium in the auricle; potassium increased in the plasma and decreased in the myocardium. Anoxia during hypothermia resulted in a loss of potassium from the contracting heart as the only significant change. Potassium to sodium ratios decreased more in the auricle than in the skeletal muscle in both hypothermia and anoxia. Thus, increased myocardial irritability during hypothermia and anoxia is caused or accompanied by a loss of potassium and an inability to extrude sodium.