Relationship Between β-Hydroxybutyrate and Acetoacetate Plus Acetone Contents of Blood and Urine of the Ruminant

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Abstract
Separation of the blood plasma, whole blood, and urine ketones was made under normal conditions and in various states of hyperketonemia and ketonuria. The relationship of blood level of a given ketone fraction to urine concentration and total excretion of that ketone fraction was best expressed as a log-log equation for both the acetoacetic acid plus acetone fraction and the [beta]-hydroxybutyric acid fraction. At low total blood or urine ketone body concentrations, [beta]-hydroxybutyrate was by far the major constituent, but at increasing ketone body concentrations, the ratio of [beta]/3-hydroxybutyrate to acetoacetate plus acetone decreased from approximately 7 to values between 1 and 2.5. The relationships found for blood plasma ketone fractions were similar to those found for whole blood.