The method of alkaline loading and its application in the clinic of internal diseases

The works of recent years have clearly shown the importance that the alkaline-acid balance has in the physiology and pathology of the animal organism. The desire to maintain this balance at a certain height occurs by coordinating the work of a number of organs: the lungs, secreting C02, the liver, taking part in the production of ammonia, the gastrointestinal tract, secerning acid and alkaline secretions and, finally, the kidneys, giving urine with a high acid content and someone's slit, then with less-take part in the regulation of alkaline—acid balance. That is why, naturally, the study of the functions of various organs aimed at regulating and maintaining the alkaline-acid balance attracted the attention of clinicians. Rehn and Günzburg, then Pannewitz, Popescu, Inotesti. Su11a, and finally Rosenberg and Hellfors, studying fluctuations in the concentration of hydrogen ions in urine after loading with alkalis and acids, sought to gain an idea of kidney function aimed at maintaining the gap.- acids. balance, and at the same time apply this method to the study of the functional state of the kidneys in general. However, it turned out to be insufficient to talk about this condition on the basis of determining the Ph of urine. The Ph fluctuations are not always sufficiently prominent, as the review of the data obtained by the authors shows, because the concentration of hydrogen ions is a value depending on the ratio of acid to alkali (voltage 002 and bicarbonate content). This forced us to put forward another method for determining changes in the functions of tissues and kidneys for the introduction of alkali: Mainzer et al., A. G e f t e r emphasized the importance of the determination of bicarbonates in urine and suggested using the method of their determination by gasometric method (according to van Slyke'y), while giving this definition a much greater value than the study of Ph fluctuations alone.