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Nickel Deficiency and Nickel-Rhodium Interaction in Chicks^1,2,

United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Human Nutrition Laboratory, and Departments of Biochemistry and Anatomy, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58201

Nickel deficiency was produced in chicks under near optimal growth conditions. This judgment is based on the finding that chicks fed the experimental diet supplemented with nickel had a very satisfactory growth rate, over 600 g in 4 weeks. To induce nickel deficiency, chicks were raised in plastic cages located inside plastic isolators and were fed diets (containing 2–15 ng of nickel/g) based on dried skim milk, acid-washed ground corn, EDTA-extracted soy protein, and corn oil. In 2 experiments, controls were fed 3 µg of nickel/g as NiCl₂·6H₂O. In experiment 3, instead of 1 control group, 25, 50, 250, and 2,500 ng/g of supplemental dietary nickel as NiCl₂·6H₂O were each given to separate groups of chicks. deprivation resulted in: ultrastructural changes in the liver with the most obvious abnormality in the organization of the rough endoplasmic reticulum; altered gross appearance, reduced oxidative ability, and decreased lipid phosphorus in the liver; altered shank skin pigmentation that was associated with a decrease in yellow lipochrome pigments; and lower hematocrits. Deficiency also tended to increase the thickness of the legs and size of the hock; decrease the length:width ratios of the tibias and femurs; and decrease the plasma cholesterol. None of the signs of deficiency were seen in chicks fed diets containing at least 52 ng of nickel/g. In one experiment, a group of birds was fed 50 µg of rhodium/g of diet as (ClRh(NH₃)_a)SO₆ to ascertain whether rhodium is a metabolic antagonist of nickel. Supplemental rhodium increased the hematocrits and liver oxidative ability of both nickel-deficient and -supplemented chicks, and increased total liver lipids, liver lipid phosphorus, and liver cholesterol in the nickel-deficient chicks alone. Rhodium did not increase the signs of nickel deficiency.

KEY WORDS: • nickel • rhodium • trace elements • liver ultrastructure

¹ Presented in part at the International Symposium on Trace Elements in Human Health and Disease. Detroit, Michigan, July, 1974.

² Supported in part by the USDA Cooperative Agreement no. 12-14-100-11, 176 (61) amend. 1.

³ Research Chemist, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Human Nutrition Laboratory, Grand Forks, N.D.

⁴ Department of Biochemistry, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.

⁵ Department of Anatomy, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.

Manuscript received 24 June 1975.