ACID-BASE RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE AVIAN EGG

1. In the newly laid egg of the domestic fowl the pH values of the albumen and yolk are about 7.6 and 6.0 respectively. 2. When the egg is stored in air there is a loss of carbon dioxide from the albumen and the pH of this fluid rises to a maximum value of about 9.5. A large proportion of the carbon dioxide which remains in the albumen is in the form of carbonate. 3. In the fertile incubated egg the pH of the albumen attains a maximum value within a period of about 2 days; the albumen then becomes less alkaline and it is nearly neutral by the end of the second week. The increasing acidity of the albumen can be attributed to (a) the secretion of hydrogen ions by the blastoderm and (b) the output of carbon dioxide by developing tissues. 4. During the first 2 weeks of incubation the pH of the yolk progressively increases to a maximum value of about 7.5: there is then a tendency for the pH of this fluid to fall and the yolk that is retained within the body of the hatched chick is slightly acidic. 5. The embryo may never come into direct contact with either the albumen or the yolk when the pH of these fluids are high and low respectively. At the beginning of embryonic development the blastoderm is separated from the albumen by the vitelline membrane and from the yolk by a layer of subgerminal fluid with a maximum pH of about 7.8. The vitelline membrane ruptures on day 4 but by this time the embryo is bathed in amniotic fluid with a pH of about 7.5. 6. The pH of amniotic fluid falls from a maximum value of about 7.5 during week I to a minimum value of about 6.5 during week 2. Amniotic fluid is a simple solution of salts until day 12; albumen then begins to flow into the amniotic cavity and the buffering capacity of amniotic fluid increases. 7. The principal end-product of nitrogenous metabolism in the chick embryo is uric acid and about 100 mg of this substance are deposited within the allantoic cavity. The pH of allantoic fluid may exceed 7.5 during week 1 but falls to 6.0 or below after day 13. 8. The tension of carbon dioxide within the egg is determined by the ratio of the rate of carbon dioxide production by the embryo to the permeability of the shell towards carbon dioxide. For the greater part of the period of incubation the permeability of the shell towards carbon dioxide is constant. Thus, as the carbon dioxide output of the embryo increases, the carbon dioxide tension within the egg rises. 9. The pH of the blood can be defined in terms of the ratio of the bicarbonate concentration to the carbon dioxide tension. There is a progressive increase in the carbon dioxide tension of the blood during the period of incubation but the pH is maintained at about 7.4 by an increase in bicarbonate concentration. 10. Part of the increase in bicarbonate is due to the removal of hydrogen ions from carbonic acid by haemoglobin. There is also a large influx of bicarbonate into the blood, but the source of this bicarbonate is not known; the evidence that renal mechanisms are involved is inconclusive and it is probable that the embryo utilizes the enormous potential store of bicarbonate in the egg shell.