Table 1.

Physiologic responses to infusions of KCl and NaCl

	Uninfused	KCl Infused	NaCl Infused
Infusion volume, ml/3 h	0	12 ± 0	2.92 ± 0.36
Infused K, mmol	0	1363 ± 54	0
Infused Na+, mmol	0	452 ± 56	452 ± 56
Urinary volume, ml/3 h	0.96 ± 0.17	4.9 ± 0.64 *	1.1 ± 0.3
Hematocrit, %
Initial	45.3 ± 1.4	45.8 ± 0.5	44.6 ± 0.7
After 3 h	45.0 ± 1.5	38.6 ± 1.0†	41.8 ± 0.7†

Values are means ± SE. KCl infusion group was infused with 150 mM KCl at a variable rate to elevate and maintain the plasma K⁺ concentration to 5.5 mM and 0.9% saline was concurrently infused to maintain an overall volume infusion rate of 4 ml/h over 3 h. NaCl infusion group received the same amount of NaCl that was infused into the KCl rats in a paired fashion. Uninfused group was prepared in the same manner but not infused. Infused K⁺ and Na⁺ and volumes were calculated from the infusion rate, recorded every 15 min, and the concentrations infused.

^*P < 0.05 in KCl infused vs. NaCl infused.

^†P < 0.05 before vs. after infusion.