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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #66157
Title: COMPARISON OF ORAL SODIUM COMPOUNDS FOR THE CORRECTION OF ACIDOSIS

Author
item BIGNER, DORI - IA STATE UNIV., AMES, IA
item Goff, Jesse
item FAUST, MARJORIE - IA STATE UNIV., AMES, IA
item TYLER, HOWARD - IA STATE UNIV., AMES, IA
item Horst, Ronald

Submitted to: Journal of Dairy Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/26/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A severe increase in blood acidity (acidosis) is a complicating factor in two common diseases of cattle; ketosis and diarrhea. Acidosis causes a gradual shutdown of organ function, beginning with brain function. In cattle, ketosis, a disease caused by low blood sugar concentrations, affects high-producing dairy cows (4 to 7% of dairy cows), costing producers up to $60 million annually in treatment costs and lost productivity. Diarrhea is a major cause of death in calves, costing producers over $100 million annually. Correction of blood acidity is important if the animals are to recover from these diseases. Currently, veterinarians treat acidosis by the oral or intravenous administration of sodium bicarbonate. In this study, we demonstrate that sodium propionate is as effective as sodium bicarbonate in neutralization of blood acids. Sodium propionate has two major advantages over sodium bicarbonate therapy; it is easier to prepare and administer, and it serves as a source of blood sugar for the animal at a time when it is too sick to eat. If adopted by veterinarians, the use of sodium propionate could reduce death and losses from ketosis and diarrhea.

Technical Abstract: Three sodium compounds were tested to determine which was best able to treat metabolic acidosis in dairy cows. A metabolic acidosis was induced in test cows by feeding a diet high in anions for 7 d prior to the administration of treatment on d 8. The orally administered treatments were equimolar amounts of sodium as either sodium chloride (208.6 g), sodium bicarbonate (300 g), or sodium propionate (343 g). The initiation of oral treatment was designated as time 0, and blood samples were taken 15 min before and 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240, 300, and 360 min after treatment. Prior to treatment all cows were in metabolic acidosis as evidenced by low blood pH and bicarbonate concentrations and high plasma chloride concentrations. After treatment, blood pH and bicarbonate were markedly higher in cows receiving sodium bicarbonate and sodium propionate, but not in cows receiving sodium chloride. We conclude that orally administered sodium bicarbonate and sodium propionate are equally effective in correcting blood acid-base balance, as predicted by the strong ion difference theory of acid-base physiology. Sodium propionate may be considered a more effective treatment of metabolic acidosis in diseases such as ketosis because the added propionate can serve as a source of energy for the animal.