OBJECTIVE To review the metabolism and function of potassium and causes and management of hypokalaemia. DATA SOURCES A review of studies reported from 1966 to 1998 and identified through a MEDLINE search of the English-language literature of hypokalaemia. SUMMARY OF REVIEW Potassium is predominantly an intracellular ion that contributes to approximately 50% of the intracellular fluid osmola...

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS Observations are described in an 8-year-old boy, the fifth case to be recognized of the syndrome previously known as 'congenital alkalosis with diarrhoea'. The condition appears to result from an abnormal handling of chloride ion in the alimentary tract; the pathognomic biochemical features are an invariably high faecal concentration of chloride and liquid stools which consis...

The benzene, alcoholic and aqueous root extracts (75mg/kg each)of Dalbergia spinosa Roxb were studied for its diuretic activity by using male albino rats by adopting the method of Tipschitz. The alcoholic extract increased the urine volume and electrolytes sodium, potassium and chloride, which is similar to the standard drug Furosemide (100mg/ kg) by inhibiting sodium, potassium, and chloride i...

The hindgut of the desert locust possesses an unusual chloride transport system. The isolated locust rectum absorbs chloride from the mucosal (lumen) to the serosal (haemolymph) side at a rate which is equal to the short-circuit current (Isc). Net chloride transport (JClnet) persists in nominally Na-free or HCO3(CO2)-free saline, is insensitive to normal inhibitors of NaCl co-transport and anio...

Ninety four children aged less than 5 years with diarrhoeal dehydration and acidosis were treated randomly with either World Health Organisation (WHO) oral rehydration solution containing sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and glucose or an oral solution with tripotassium citrate monohydrate replacing the sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride in the WHO solution. Fifty ...

The changes in membrane potential of isolated, single crayfish giant axons following rapid shifts in external ion concentrations have been studied. At normal resting potential the immediate change in membrane potential after a variation in external potassium concentration is quite marked compared to the effect of an equivalent chloride change. If the membrane is depolarized by a maintained pota...

OBJECTIVE To review the physiology and cardiovascular effects of the commonly used intravenous electrolytes. DATA SOURCES Abstracts, articles and published reviews of studies reported from 1966 to 2000 and identified through a MEDLINE search on cardiac arrhythmias and electrolytes. SUMMARY OF REVIEW While isotonic saline solutions are used to improve the haemodynamic status in critically il...

Darrow and his associates (1, 2) have recently obtained evidence that a correlation exists between the concentration of serum bicarbonate, muscle potassium, and intracellular sodium from a study on rats subjected to procedures designed to produce a deficit of one of the ions sodium, chloride, or potassium. Thus, the serum bicarbonate concentration was found to vary directly with the intracellul...