TRIGLYCERIDES AND FATTY ACIDS 139 



However, oxalic acid, when present in concentrations too low to inhibit 

 respiration in liver slices, appeared to have some ketogenic action. The 

 explanation for this effect is not immediately apparent. 



c. Conditions Resulting in Ketonuria. Many circumstances will result 

 in the production of ketosis. It is generally believed that animals especially 

 susceptible to one type of ketonuria exhibit a high degree of susceptibility 

 to other types of ketonuria as well. 



(a) Fasting. The most common type of ketonuria is produced by inani- 

 tion. The rate of development and the intensity of this type of ketosis 

 vary with species. Thus, CrandalP^* found that ketonemia developed in 

 men after a fast lastmg thirty-nme hours, while two to three days elapsed 

 before it was exhibited in dogs. In the case of man, the maximum keto- 

 nemia was reached after three or four days; from then on the level of 

 ketone bodies in the blood continued practically at a constant level, al- 

 though the rate was sometimes shghtly lower than the maximum obtained 

 early in the fast. The average ketonuria values of normal male subjects 

 for the first four days, as reported by Deuel and Gulick,-^^ expressed in g. 

 per sq. meter of body surface, were as follows: day, 0.02; first day, 0.05; 

 second day, 0.86; third day, 1.90; and fourth day, 2.66. The highest 

 amounts excreted during this period by a male subject, expressed in total 

 ketone bodies for the control day and the succeeding four fast days, were 

 the following: 0.04, 0.28, 5.01, 8.06, and 8.94 g. In the case of the normal 

 female subjects, the average values expressed in g./sq. meter of body sur- 

 face were as follows: day, 0.02; first day, 0.54; second day, 4.25; 

 third day, 8.47; and fourth day, 6.56. The maximum excretion by a 

 woman expressed in total ketone bodies for the control day and for the 

 succeeding three fast days were the following: 0.03, 0.05, 4.02, and 20.67 g. 



In the case of prolonged fasts, there is likewise evidence that the keto- 

 nuria continues until the fasts are discontinued. Thus, in the experiment 

 on the professional faster, Succi, studied by Luciani,^^^ the values for 

 urinary /3-hydroxybutyric acid (expressed in g.) were recorded by Brugsch,^*^ 

 from the twenty-third to the thirtieth day, respectively, as follows: 9.24, 

 8.43, 9.85, 5.28, 11.62, 6.99, 9.15, and 13.60 (Av. 9.34). The excretion of 

 acetone in g. over the same period was the follo^\4ng: 0.569, 0.410, 0.463 

 0.569, 0.525, 0.339, 0.242, and 0.115 (Av. 0.404). SimHar data are avaU! 



3" L. A. CrandaU, Jr., J. Biol. Chern., 138, 123-128 (1941). 



'"•^ L. Liiciani, Da.s- Hungern, Trans. M. C. Fraenkel, Hamburg & Leipzig, 1890; 

 cited bv G. Lusk, Science of Nutrition, 4th ed., Saunders, Philadelphia and New York, 

 1928, p. 91. 



3« T. Brugsch, Z. exptl. Pathol, u. Therap., 1, 419-430 (1905); cited by G. Lusk, 

 Science of Nutrition, 4th ed., Saunders, Philadelphia and New York, 1928, p. 94. 



