Effects of Diet on the Plasma Chlorides and Chloride Excretion in the Dog

In the st,udy of the plasma chlorides in a series of ncphritics Wolferth (1) recently called attention to the low figures occasionally obsc>rved in certain cases. As a rule, this finding was noted in patients lvho had been for some time upon a chloride-free diet This observation we (2) have confirmed and have found the plasma chlorides as low as 3.6 gm. per liter in one case of advanced glomcruloncphritis, 5 days before death. That this marked depression of t,hc plasma chlorides might be merely the result of a long continued low chloride diet. combined with a rather free administ,ration of water seemed t,o us possible in spite of the well rccognizctd tcndcncy of tho blood to maintain constant its inorganic composition. It was observed that in other casts wit.11 chronic nephritis, especially those of the so called parenchymat,ous type, which exhibited a tendency to elevation of the plasma chlorides, even a prolonged period of low salt diet did not bring the plasma chlorides below normal or often even to the normal figure. These*, however, do not afford sat,&factory evidence of the effect of a continued low chloride diet on the plasma in other discaces of the kidneys or mhcn the kidneys are normal. In ordtlr to obtain some data upon the point the following expcrimcnts were carried out upon dogs. The animals were placed upon one of three diets; an ordinary diet! a diet with a high sodium chloride content, or a diet poor in sodium chloride and with a free administration of distilled water. After a vari-