CHLORIDE CONTENT OF THE MINERAL CONSTITFENTS OF THE SKELETON 243 



excess chloride content of lh(^ l)one of 1lic mouse we correspondingly 

 have to multiply the figure of 0.35 mgm found for the non-exchangeable 

 bone chloride by about 1.5, thus arriving at the result that the total ex- 

 cess bone cliloricUM-onl (Mil ofour35gm mice aniounls 1o aV)Ou1 0.53 mgm. 



Table 1. — Counts per Min. ^*C1 

 Activity of the Skeleton of 33^ — 36 g 

 Mice after Being Kept on Non-active 

 Diet, thus after Biological removal 

 OF Exchangeable RAniocHLORinR, 

 FDR () Months 



In contrast to the bone sodium which is to a large extent present as 

 excess sodium in the skeleton it can be shown that the chloride present 

 as excess chloride makes out 1/10 only of the total bone chloride. 



From 234 m-equiv. sodium present in 1 kgm of dry human bone 84.9%, 

 thus 46 gm, was found by Edelman et alS^'^ to be excess sodium in a 70 kgm 

 man. For the dog Edelman and associates found 89.5% of the bone sodium 

 to be excess sodium and a similar figure is stated by Miller and associates^"). 

 1 kgm of rat bone was found to contain 125 m-equiv excess sodium^^). 

 As to the total chloride content of 1 kgm fat free bone this was fountl 

 to amount to 19 m-equiv. only(^), thus to less than the extracellular bone 

 sodium which makes out 25 m-equiv. While excess bone sodium is to a 

 marked extent responsible for the difference between total and extra- 

 cellular body sodium, for chloride this difference is almost entirely due 

 to the presence of intracellular chloride in Ihc soft tissues. 



References 



1. C. T. Ray, G. E. Burch and S. A. Threfoot, J. Lab. Clin. Med. 39, 673 (1952). 



2. G. Hevesy, Kgl. Danske Videnskab. Selnkab Biol. Medd. 22, Xo. 0. (1955). 

 3.G. C. H. Bauer, Acta Physiol. Scand. 31, 334 (1954). 



16* 



