The Biologic Response of Chickens to Certain Organic Acids and Salts with Particular Reference to Their Effect on Ossification
John T. Correll
Research Laboratories, The Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1. No organic acid, its sodium or potassium salt, or a mixtureof the acid and its salt when added to a diet that is rachitogenicfor chicks was found to protect the birds from rickets as similarmixtures are known to do for rats.
2. Most of the cationogensstudied were toxic to the chick.Sodium citrate and acetatecaused the precipitation of an insoluble"salt" in the animalbody.
3. When citric acid and sodium chloride were fed inamountsequivalent to a lethal dose of sodium citrate no suchtoxicmanifestations were noted.
4. Potassium citrate is lesstoxic than sodium citrate. Whenthe two were fed together inan equal molar ratio the chickwas "protected" from the greatertoxicity of the sodium citrate.
5. Ammonium carbonate-ammoniumchloride mixture when added toa non-rachitogenic ration forchicks did not produce rickets,as measured by bone ash andserum phosphatase values, in contrastto results that have beenreported for rats on diets which werenon-rachitogenic becauseof a favorable mineral ratio.