BLOOD STUDIES UNDER ANESTHESIA I. ETHER ADMINISTERED TO THE DOG BY OPEN DROP AND IN A CLOSED SYSTEM

¹ From the Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

A study has been made of the changes in various constituents of blood serum in dogs anesthetized for one hour with ether administered by (1) open drop and (2) a rebreathing system containing a carbon dioxide absorber and with a constant oxygen supply.

The two methods of administration showed changes in the same direction and of the same magnitude in a number of blood constituents. There was a fall in pH, in serum chloride and often in the base bound by protein, an increase in sodium and usually an increase in lactic acid.

The serum potassium fell in both series of experiments but to a greater extent with open drop ether.

Inorganic phosphate of the serum always increased with machine ether. With open drop the results were more variable, usually decreasing but sometimes the values rose or remained constant.

The carbon dioxide combining power showed a constant decrease with open drop ether. With the machine the results were irregular.

Although the pH fell in both series of experiments to the same extent, the difference in the behavior of alkali reserve, potassium and of inorganic phosphate suggests that the mechanism of acidosis may not be the same.

These experiments confirm some results and do not confirm others reported by previous workers on this problem. This divergence shows the necessity for controlling a large number of variables, some of them unknown to us at present, before we can predict with any degree of certainty the shifts in blood constituents after ether anesthesia.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. FISHER, C. RUSS, E. FEDOR, R. WILDE, P. ENGSTROM, J. HAPPEL, and P. PRENDERGAST Experimental Evaluation of Prolonged Hypothermia Arch Surg, September 1, 1955; 71(3): 431 - 448. [Abstract] [PDF]