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Effect of Feeding High Levels of Copper to Albino Rats¹

Department of Agricultural Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison

1. White rats were fed ad libitum diets which contained 0, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 ppm. of added copper in the form of CuSO₄.

2. The rats ingested voluntarily amounts of copper ranging from 5.05 to 11.8 mg. copper per day, although at 4000 ppm., food intake was so restricted as to result in partial starvation and rapid death.

3. Slight toxicity was observed on 500 ppm. with increasing toxicity on higher levels, as indicated by growth records.

4. The animals were killed after 4 weeks and the blood, spleens and livers were analyzed for copper. Whereas the copper content of the blood and spleens was increased a maximum of 2 to 5 times, the liver increased to a maximum of 300 times normal.

² On leave of absence from the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington, Kentucky, and published with the permission of the director.

Manuscript received 18 October 1937.