The changes in water and chloride distribution during heavy sweating

Abstract

Correlated observations on man between changes in salt and water balance and changes in the blood electrolytes during the acute salt loss that occurs during heavy sweating have not been made to the same extent as corresponding observations on animals during acute salt loss otherwise induced. Lee, Murray, Simmonds & Atherton (1941) discussed the strain which working in the heat imposes upon the salt/water balance, but they did not report any figures for the blood electrolyte concentration; their subjects were not sweating at very high rates, the maximum being 10 4 c.c./min., and the salt losses were all small, often less than 1 g. and never more than 2 g. in an 8 hr. test, considerably less than the losses in the urine over the same period. McCance's studies (1936, 1937, 1938) were on subacute rather than on acute salt deficiency, and sweating was only one of the means by which he induced the deficiency; the blood electrolytes were estimated, but, as the samples were not taken in close relation to the sweating periods, it is not possible to evaluate the effect of sweating as compared with other factors. Nadal, Pedersen & Maddock (1941) compared the effect of salt loss with that of water deprivation, and their results indicated that water is lost from the extracellular compartments in salt deprivation, and from the extra-and intracellular compartments in water deprivation; but as their deprivations were induced relatively slowly it would not be admissible to deduce from them the effects of a few hours of very profuse sweating. Elkinton, Danowski & Winkler (1946a, b) studied acute salt deprivation in dogs induced by intraperitoneal injection of hypertonic glucose with subsequent removal of the intraperitoneal fluid. They correlated the changes in the blood chemistry and in the clinical condition of the animals with the changes in salt and water balance and calculated the movements of fluid between the intraand extracellular compartments.In the series of experiments reported elsewhere (Ladell 1947(Ladell , 1948, and in others of a similar nature, there were a number of occasions in which the salt

Seasonal Difference in Responses of Body Fluids to Heat Stress

“…Sweat, secreted to regulate body temperature, becomes a threat to homeostasis of the body fluid, and many reports have been published on changes of body fluids caused by sweating (GLICKMAN et al, 1941;LADELL, 1949;ITOH, 1953;CHRISTENSEN, 1965, 1968;SENAY, , 1970SENAY, , 1972. According to the review by BASS and HENSCHEL (1956), an acute heat stress elicits responses which, in the absence of dehydration, result in increased plasma and blood volumes with little change in their compositions , although the behaviors of extracellular and interstitial fluids are still controversial.…”

The Water Loss and Blood Changes by Prolonged Sweating Without Intake of Food and Drink

“…The chloride still in excess in the body must have been equilibrated by some other mechanisms. As Ladell (17) observed the changes in the chloride concentration of the blood and plasma on a person who heavily sweated, and found that disturbance of the osmotic equilibrium between the extra-and intracellular components which might be expected depending upon the extent to which water and Cl losses are made good, does not develop to any great extent, the equilibrium being quickly restored by simple fluid trasfer.…”