Nitrogen balance in clinically normal dogs receiving parenteral nutrition solutions

Objective-To determine nitrogen balance in clinically normal dogs receiving parenteral nutrition solutions. Animals-8 clinically normal female Beagles. Procedure-Dogs were randomly assigned to receive 4 treatments in random ord er. Treatment A consisted of IV administration of nonlactated Ringer's solu tion. Treatments B, C, and D consisted of IV administration of isocaloric p arenteral solutions containing 0, 1.36, and 2.04 g of amino acids/kg of bod y weight/d, respectively, for 7 consecutive days. Urine and feces were coll ected on days 5, 6, and 7 of each treatment period, and Kjeldahl analysis w as used to determine nitrogen balance. Results-Mean nitrogen balance was negative with treatments A and B but was not significantly different from 0 with treatments C and D. Dogs had the lo west nitrogen balance values and lost the most weight while receiving treat ment A. Dogs were able to conserve protein and had higher nitrogen balance values when receiving treatment B, compared with treatment A. Dogs lost the least amount of weight while receiving treatment D. Regression analysis in dicated that an IV amino acid intake of 2.32 g/kg/d (95% confidence interva l, 2.00 to 2.81 g/kg/d), as supplied by the commercial product used in this study, would result in zero nitrogen balance in clinically normal dogs. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Results suggest that IV amino acid requi rement of clinically normal dogs is approximately 2.3 g/kg/d.