Abstract
Summary Ten ketotic cows and ten normal cows, paired as to herd, breed, milk production level, time since parturition, and time of drawing and processing blood, were used in a study to relate adrenal-cortical and thyroid activity to the ketotic condition. Plasma level of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids was used as the index of adrenal-cortical activity, and thyroid activity was indicated by levels of plasma protein-bound iodine. Plasma 17-hydroxycorticosteroid values averaged 5.09 μ g. % for the normal cows and 7.48 μ g. % for the ketotic cows; whereas plasma protein-bound iodine values were 4.22 μ g. % and 2.58 μ g. %, respectively, for the normal and ketotic cows. In both instances, differences between mean values were highly significant statistically (P μ g. %, and 2.65 μ g. %, respectively. It will be noted that in the ketotic cows high 17-hydroxycorticosteroid values were associated with low protein-bound iodine values. This suggested that ketosis may be caused by a relative adrenal-cortical insufficiency induced by hypothyroidism.
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