URINARY EXCRETION OF BETA‐HYDROXYBUTYRATE AND ACETOACETATE DURING EXPERIMENTAL KETOSIS

Abstract

Acetoacetate and beta‐hydroxybutyrate in blood and urine have been studied in experimental ketosis produced in healthy young men and women by: (a) exercise in the post‐absorptive state, (b) starvation and exercise, or (c) a high‐fat, low‐carbohydrate diet. With an increasing severity of ketosis, the plot of rate of excretion of acetoacetate against its concentration in the blood was a straight line, whereas the plot of the rate of excretion of beta‐hydroxybutyrate against its concentration in the blood was exponential. The two ketone bodies had a constant ratio in the plasma, but, as ketosis progressed, beta‐hydroxybutyrate became the preponderant molecule in the urine. The renal clearances of both acetoacetate and beta‐hydroxybutyrate were much lower than that for creatinine. © 1968 The Physiological Society