Potassium depletion in a healthy north‐eastern Thai population: No association with tubulo‐interstitial injury

Abstract

Potassium depletion prevails among the healthy population of north-east Thailand, as well as among patients with certain metabolic disorders such as upper urinary tract stones, the sudden unexplained death syndrome, distal renal tubular acidosis and hypokalaemic periodic paralysis. However, definite proof of the relationship of potassium depletion and these metabolic disorders is lacking. We prospectively studied muscle and kidney potassium content including renal tissue pathology in three groups of healthy adult Thai subjects who died of vehicular accidents. Group 1 (n = 24) were Bangkok city dwellers; groups 2 (n = 10) and 3 (n = 22) lived in north-eastern Thailand in the metropolitan area and in the villages, respectively. The muscle potassium content of group 1 (338.5 +/- 9.6 mEq/kg dry weight (DW)) were similar to group 2 (307.9 +/- 11.9 mEq/kg DW), but was greater than group 3 (295.4 +/- 9.1 mEq/kg DW; P < 0.01). The kidney potassium content of group 1 (208.6 +/- 7.8 mEq/kg DW) was significantly higher than group 3 (175.9 +/- 6.3 mEq/kg DW, P < 0.05). In group 3, the muscle potassium correlated linearly with the kidney potassium (r = 0.455, P = 0.33). None of the group 3 patients had renal histopathological change compatible with a diagnosis of focal or diffuse interstitial nephritis. This study confirms that potassium depletion is common among healthy rural dwellers in north-east Thailand. This deficit was probably chronic. However, there was minimal renal tubulo-interstitial change.

Metabolic Enzymes, Antioxidants, and Cytoskeletal Proteins Are Significantly Altered in Vastus Lateralis Muscle of K-Depleted Cadaveric Subjects

“…Our recent study analyzing muscle K contents in cadaveric subjects, who resided in the northeastern part of Thailand and died from vehicle accident, revealed that approximately 23% of the recruited subjects (7 out of 30 cases) had K depletion (K < 80 µmol/g wet weight), 6 consistent to the previous surveys, which indicated that the northeastern part of Thailand is a high prevalent area of K deficiency. 7,8 This population was therefore our focus in the present study aiming for analyzing changes in proteome profile of skeletal muscle in human subjects when muscle K was chronically depleted. Specimens were collected within 6 h of death to obtain the most reliable data.…”