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Ringer's solution

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Also known as Ringer’s irrigation: A solution of recently boiled distilled water containing 8.6 gm sodium chloride, 0.3 gm potassium chloride, and 0,33 gram calcium chloride per litre – the same concentrations as their occurrence in body fluids. Ingredients are: NaCL 6 g, KCL 0,075 g, CaCl2 0,1 g, NaHCO3 0,1 g.

Ringer experimented with various solutions containing the chlorides of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, in order to obtain a suitable physiological saline solution which would keep the heart beating outside of the body. Several different formulas are now used. Variants are called Locke's or Tyrode's solution. Locke's, or Ringer-Locke solution, containins more glucose and sodium, and is particularly used for mammals.

See also Locke's solution and Tyrode's solution, under Frank Spiller Locke, English physiologist, 1871-1949, and Maurice Vejux Tyrode, American pharmacologist, 1878-1930, respectively.

Bibliography

  • S. Ringer:
    Concerning the influence exerted by each of the constituents of the blood on the contraction of the ventricle.
    Journal of Physiology, Cambridge, 1880-1882, 3: 380-393.
    Journal of Physiology, Cambridge, 1883-1884, 4: 29-42, 222-225. A further contribution regarding the influence of the different constituents of the blood on the contraction of the heart.
    Journal of Physiology, 1883, 4: 29-42. Upon the similarity and dissimilarity of the behaviour of cardiac and skeletal muscle when brought into relation with solutions containing sodium, calcium and potassium salts.
    With Dudley Buxton. Journal of Physiology, Cambridge, 1887, 8: 288-295. We thank Angel M Ramirez Ortiga for correcting our bibliography of Ringer's solution.

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