Abstract
1. Determinations of plasma volume (PV) and circulating protein in 13 anaesthetized cats before and after dehydration by deprivation of water for 48 h revealed an 11.5% decrease of PV and a 13.5% decrease of circulating protein, the plasma protein concentration and the albumin/globulin ratio remaining essentially constant. Extracellular fluid volume (ECFV) was reduced by 13.8% in 9 dehydrated animals as compared to 10 control animals. 2. The fractional disappearance rate of radio albumin revealed that half a pool of albumin is exchanging with the extravascular space in 10 h in control animals as well as in dehydrated animals. The observation that lymph flow and lymph protein transport from the thoracic duct were closely correlated with the state of filling of the interstitial space explains why half a pool of plasma albumin was returned to the blood stream in 16.5 h in dehydrated animals as compared to 10 h in controls. The reduction of plasma albumin due to dehydration was calculated to result from the disturbance of the dynamic equilibrium between transcapillary albumin shift and lymphatic return. 3. During rehydration by saline infusion, dehydrated animals kept larger percentages of the infused fluid inside the intravascular space demonstrating a decrease of net transcapillary fluid shift. The increase of lymph flow during infusion was shown to be closely correlated with the filtration rate. There was an increase of transcapillary protein shift and a decrease of transport rates for lymph protein during infusion.
Published Version
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