Effects of heat stress and dehydration on body water distribution in the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)

Changes in body water compartments was investigated in two groups of three young female camels, each exposed to heat and dehydration at two different environments. After an initial control period of 7 days, the animals were denied water but allowed food for two weeks. Total body water pool (TBW), extracellular fluid volume (ECV) and plasma volume (PV) were determined before and at the end of the dehydration period using tritiated water (TOH), sodium thiocyanate (Na-SCN) and evans blue dye (EBD), respectively. The intracellular and gut volume (ICV) and the interstitial fluid volume (ITV) were simply deduced. The TBW in hydrated and dehydrated camels was found to be greater in camels at Rabat (79.3 +/- 9.7% body weight) compared to those at Tadla (71.9 +/- 4.8% body weight). Dehydration caused a loss of about 22% of TBW at Rabat and 31% of TBW at Tadla. The body water loss was mainly withdrawn from the intracellular and the gut compartments being 71.8-72.5% and 60.3-71.1%, respectively of total body water loss at Rabat and Tadla. The ITV and PV contributions were 16.9-18.7% and 8.8-10.7%, respectively of total body water loss at Rabat and 22.8-32.4% and 6.1-7.3% of total body water loss at Tadla. There was a significant impact of environmental conditions on changes in body water distribution.