Electolytes in Heart Disease.

• Main Author: Campbell, Charles G.
• Other Authors: Friedman, S. (Supervisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1949
• Subjects: Anatomy.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=123806

The title of this thesis is a broad one and purposely so, for the problem was first conceived in such general terms. But it soon became obvious, that the role of many electrolytes in many different types of heart disease could not possibly be investigated by one person in a short time. Therefore, in approaching such a study, the problem had immediately to be limited. Because potassium is such an important electrolyte in cellular metabolism and because variations in potassium concentrations have such a marked effect upon the functions of the heart, it was decided that this ion should be the principal electrolyte involved in the investigation. Because changes in the potassium concentration frequently involve reciprocal changes in sodium concentration, sodium, to an extent, also enters this study. The term heart disease also needed closer definition. It was planned to include two general types of heart disease in the investigation, acute and chronic heart disease. This acute and chronic myocardial damage would also have to be of a type easily induced by experimental procedures. Such a problem as the roles of these electrolytes in experimentally induced acute and chronic heart disease could be approached in different ways. For instance, the heart disease could be induced and then the level of serum and tissue electrolyte concentrations determined. On the other hand, the effect of variations of serum sodium and potassium concentration[...]