Evaluation of brain chloride determinations in the diagnosis of water deprivation/sodium salt intoxication in pigs.
In a series of pig brains submitted from field cases where water deprivation/sodium salt intoxication was suspected, histopathological examinations and chloride determinations were performed. A poor correlation was found between brain chloride concentration and neuropathology. The ranges of chloride concentrations found were similar for brains showing the encephalopathy of water deprivation/sodium salt intoxication, brains with other neuropathological diagnoses and brains without significant histopathological lesions. A close correlation was found between brain sodium and chloride in a further similar series, suggesting that determinations of sodium would not be more helpful diagnostically than determinations of chloride. A wide range of brain chloride values was also found in a group of healthy slaughtered pigs but the significance of this was not apparent. Brain chloride determinations have little value in the diagnosis of water deprivation/sodium salt intoxication in pigs, especially when performed in isolation without concurrent neuropathology and an adequate clinical history.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002712:Chlorides / Q000032:analysis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D012964:Sodium / Q000032:analysis; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000506:poisoning*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014868:Water Deprivation
D002712:Chlorides; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012964:Sodium