Chemical Changes in the Blood of the Dog after Pyloric Obstruction

Chemical studies of the blood and urine of four dogs following pyloric obstruction are reported. The observations of other workers that a fall in chlorides and a rise in CO(2)-combining power of the plasma occur, are confirmed. There is also a marked rise in the non-protein nitrogen of the blood, consisting mainly of urea nitrogen and undetermined nitrogen. The fall in chlorides is not due to the loss of chlorides in the gastric juice. The chlorine is probably bound somewhere in the process of protein destruction. There is a close relation between the fall in chlorides and the protein destruction. A study of tetany should include the protein metabolism as well as that of the inorganic salts, since it seems possible that the tetany is due to protein split-products and not to the alkalosis. The chemical changes following pyloric obstruction are essentially the same as those following high intestinal obstruction.