Effect of Ammonium Chloride on Serum Sodium/Chloride Ratio m Foreign Serum Arteritis in Rabbits

Abstract

SummaryThe possibility was considered that experimentally induced D.C.A. arteritis and foreign protein arteritis might have a common pathogenesis mediated by way of an elevation of the serum Na/Cl ratio. To test this hypothesis one group of animals was given horse serum alone, and another both horse serum and ammonium chloride. There was no elevation of the serum sodium or Na/Cl ratio in those animals receiving horse serum alone and some of the animals receiving both horse serum and ammonium chloride showed a significant depression of the Na/Cl ratio, even though they developed an arteritis.These results clearly indicate that the development of foreign protein arteritis is not mediated through alterations of the serum sodium chloride ratio and therefore if such an alteration is essential to the development of D.C.A. induced arteritis as suggested by Selye, then the pathogenesis of these two varieties of arteritis must be different. There was a decreased incidence of arteritis in the group of animals recei...