[Characteristic electrolyte changes in the hereditary myopathy and cardiomyopathy of the Syrian golden hamster (strain BIO 8262) (author's transl)].

In hamsters of differing ages suffering from a hereditary myopathy and cardiomyopathy (strain BIO 8262), the electrolytes sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium in serum, and several tissues were compared with appropriate controls. The determinations of the electrolytes were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. An enormous accumulation of calcium in the necrotizing heart and skeletal muscle was the noticeable feature besides pronounced elevation of the sodium content in the myopathic skeletal muscle. While the latter refers mainly to an interstitial edema which is a consequence of the myopathy, the calcium accumulation is assumed to be an essential part in the cycle of pathologic events occurring in the hereditary disease: it seems to induce the necrotization.