Early effects of cobalt chloride treatment on certain blood parameters and on urine composition

The authors studied the variations of some blood parameters and urine composition during the first hours after CoCl2 treatment in rats and rabbits. These showed an increase in hematocrit with a decrease in plasma volume and, at the same time, a decrease in total proteinemia as well as in the albumin (rabbits) and gamma-globulin fractions. On the basis of observations carried out in rabbits, these phenomena are not seen if the cobalt is complexed with cysteine before treatment; moreover, they are at least partly reversed by cysteine administration soon after cobalt. Plasma Na+ and K+ concentrations do not show significant changes in CoCl2-treated rabbits; on the contrary, the excretion of such electrolytes, as well as urinary protein content, decreases. In addition, the urine of CoCl2-treated rabbits contains at least two pigmented substances with different molecular weights, which are separable by dialysis and DEAE-cellulose chromatography and both contain cobalt in different percentages. The authors believe that CoCl2 treatment leads to an early and profound increase in vascular permeability with depletion of plasmatic material in the tissues and hemoconcentration; moreover, the above stated phenomena seem to be correlated with the forming of cobalt complexes.