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Effects of Basal Diets on the Response of Rats to Certain Dietary Non-Ionic Surface-Active Agents¹

Department of Biochemistry, School of Hygiene and Public Health and Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Baltimore, Md.

When 23-day-old weanling rats were fed a basal casein diet supplemented with 5% polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate (Tween 60), diarrhea developed during the initial period of feeding and the growth rate was retarded. On the other hand, supplementation of this surface-active substance or of two similar agents, such as Myrj 52 or Span 60, to a soybean meal basal diet, even at a 15% level, did not produce these deleterious effects except in the animals on Span 60. These rats consumed less food and consequently grew at a slower rate than those on other emulsifiers or those serving as controls. At the end of 14 weeks of feeding, animals on both 15 and 5% levels were sacrificed. No abnormal histological or pathological changes were observed. To test whether older rats would be more susceptible to any possible deleterious properties of the agents, rats of one year of age or older were fed 5% Tween 60 in the soybean basal diet for 14 weeks. No loss of weight or development of diarrhea was observed. From these results it was concluded that, depending on the basal diet used for supplementation, each of the three nonionic emulsifiers investigated in this study produced no observable toxic effect.

² The authors express appreciation for the technical assistance of Mrs. Shanley Davis.

Manuscript received 24 December 1952.