156 



III. OXIDATION AND METABOLISM 



the production of diabetes with alloxan. Emerson*^'* likewise found that a 

 greater ketonuria develops in female rats on exposure to ether anesthesia 

 than results in male animals. The high degree of ketonuria produced in the 

 female rat by feeding ketogenic acids was found to be abolished by ovariec- 

 tomy. Thus, the level of exogenous ketonuria in spayed female rats was 

 about half that observed in normal males. *®^ Female guinea pigs also 

 exhibit a considerably greater acetonuria when tested by exogenous keto- 

 nuria than do the male animals. ^^^ However, Chamberlin et a/.^®^ reported 



12 3 4 



Fig. 1. The urinary excretion of ketone bodies by normal men and women during 

 fasting. The broken lines represent maximum and minimum figures for 5 women, and 

 the solid lines maximum and minimum values for 5 men. The results are expressed in 

 grams (as acetone) per sq. meter body surface. ^^'"^ 



that the degree of ketonuria occurring as a result of an exclusively beef 

 heart diet, or following fasting, in cats, was actually higher in males than in 

 females. However, the levels of output of ketone bodies recorded were 

 extremely low, being approximately only 0.7 mg. per 100 sq. cm. in the case 

 of the male animals, and 0.3 mg. per 100 sq. cm. in the females. It would 

 be interesting to determine what sex differences would obtain if an exogenous 



*6* G. A. Emerson, J. Pharmacol. Exptl. Therap., 55, 90-96 (1935). 

 «6 C. F. Grunewald, C. H. Cutler, and H. J. Deuel, Jr., J. Biol. Chem., 105, 35-43 

 (1934). 



«« E. Chamberlin, W. H. Furgason, and V. E. Hall, /. Biol. Chem., 121, 599-606 (1937). 



