Potassium Deficiency in the Pregnant Dog*

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Abstract
K+ depletion was readily induced in pregnant bitches by feeding a diet deficient in this cation. This deficit of K+ did not interfere with the pregnancy in terms of size of litter or the viability and weight of the fetuses. There was no evidence that the fetuses of K+-deficient bitches were depleted of this ion. There was a significant uphill chemical concentration gradient for K+ across the placentae of both control and experimental animals from mother to fetus. This was most striking in the case of the K+-depleted bitches. There was a downhill chemical concentration gradient for Cl- from maternal serum to fetal serum that was of the same magnitude in both groups of animals. The results of this study strongly suggest the probability of an active mechanism for the transport of K+ from mother to fetus.