Abstract
A method is described for the determination of ketone bodies in blood, based on (1) their conversion to acetone by boiling in Greenberg and Lester's microrefluxing units, (2) the reaction of acetone with alkaline salicylaldehyde by a modification of Thin and Robertson's microdiffusion technic, and (3) the colorimetric determination of salicylacetone in water. A study of the effects of varying concentrations of dichromate and sulfuric acid on the recoveries of acetoacetic and β-hydroxybutyric acids is presented and the optimum reagent concentrations are established. Recoveries of 100 per cent are obtained for both acetoacetic and β-hydroxybutyric acids. The method is particularly sensitive to small changes of ketone bodies. In the range 0-8 mg. acetone per 100 ml. blood, differences of 0.06 mg./100 ml. are detected with ease.

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