THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHLORIDES IN TISSUES AND ANIMALS

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Abstract
Summary: 1. Chlorine is an important component of an adult animal organism as a whole, since its depletion quickly results in serious consequences.2. Chloride occurs in large and characteristic amounts in all tissues and fluids. Although a constant net composition is maintained, this chloride is not fixed, but an extensive movement occurs daily between different systems of the body. No conclusive demonstration of large chloride reserves has as yet been made.3. A study of teleost eggs showed that the total base concentration remained constant, that during development the chloride concentration was reduced, and that new bicarbonate, phosphate and protein anions compensated for the chloride lost. Growth proceeded through changes in anions rather than changes in cations. Chloride reduction is a characteristic of all embryonic growth.4. That chloride reduction accompanies specialisation is shown in embryonic development. Also the chloride concentration of adult tissues and fluids is inversely proportional to their degree of specialisation.5. The loss of chloride with growth cannot be explained by theories of membrane equilibria. The energy necessary for the excretion of chloride is derived from metabolic processes involving bicarbonate and phosphate anions. Chloride ions do not participate in oxidative reactions but behave as relatively inert complements to other anions.6. Because chloride is so easily determined, and since its movement attends changes in the concentration of other anions, and since low chloride is a sign of high specialisation, its concentration in tissues and fluids is useful as an initial indicator of the electrolyte make‐up or an electrolyte change in a system.

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