Abstract
A method for estimating the water and electrolyte content of small biopsy specimens of skeletal muscle is described by means of which the total amounts of these are divided into intracellular and extracellular fractions and the corrected chloride content of the specimen is used to calculate the extracellular water. The values thus obtained are believed to be representative of changes in the water and electrolyte content of the whole body. The potassium content of muscle-biopsy specimens taken under general anæsthesia was found to be significantly reduced, but was discounted as being of no practical significance. The muscle-biopsy technique has been useful in the treatment of electrolyte imbalance in disease. The extracellular water content of the biopsy specimens was shown to depend under normal conditions on the sodium content and the intracellular water content on the potassium content; changes in intracellular potassium were balanced osmotically by changes in sodium content. The method is simpler than any method so far described.
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