Abstract
WE wish to record the finding of considerable amounts of isopropyl alcohol in the blood, milk and rumen contents of cows suffering from acetonæmia, whereas there appears to be none present in normal animals. This means that the figures given hitherto for (β-hydroxybutyric acid in the literature on that condition are probably misleading, as by most of the usual methods of analysis isopropyl alcohol would be estimated with that fraction. Moreover, in view of its close relationship to acetone, isopropyl alcohol might be either a precursor or a metabolic product of that substance. If the former is the case, it would necessitate an entirely new approach to the problem of the development of ketone bodies in this disease.
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ROBERTSON, A., THIN, C. & STIRLING, A. Isopropyl Alcohol in Cows Suffering from Acetonæmia. Nature 166, 954 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166954a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166954a0
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