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A Study of the Hemorrhagic-Kidney Syndrome of Choline Deficiency: The Protective Effect of Starch

Department of Biochemistry, Cornell University Medical College, New York

The incidence of illness and death due to the hemorrhagic-kidney syndrome in young rats on a choline-deficient diet, was significantly less when the diet contained corn starch, than when the carbohydrate was in the form of sucrose.

This effect of the starch was more than that produced by the addition to the sucrose diet, of more choline than was contained by the starch. Addition of increments of choline resulted in more rapid growth and a later appearance of hemorrhagic kidneys, before there was a significant decrease in the incidence of the syndrome.

Residues from extracts of the starch did not afford protection when added to the sucrose diet, and extracted starch was at least as effective as unextracted starch.

Addition of 2% succinylsulfathiazole to the starch-containing diet, did not diminish the protective action of the starch, and on none of the choline-free diets were significant amounts of choline found in the feces. The caeca of the animals receiving succinylsulfathiazole became markedly dilated.

In spite of the failure to obtain evidence of an increased bacterial synthesis of choline on the starch-containing diet, some effect within the intestinal tract appeared to be the most probable explanation of the protection afforded by starch, though the possibility of other protective factors in the starch was not entirely eliminated.

The lesions which were observed on the choline-deficient diets, and the significance of the vascular disturbance, were discussed.

Manuscript received 12 May 1947.

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