QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Limson, M. Articles by Jackson, C. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Limson, M. Articles by Jackson, C. M.

Changes in the Weights of Various Organs and Systems of Young Rats Maintained on a Low-Protein Diet

(From the Department of Anatomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.)

1. Twenty-eight rats were fed from weaning time (age 3 weeks) a diet low in protein but planned to be adequate in calories and in the various accessories. The rats remained healthy and active over a period of about 4 months. No sex difference or evidence of specific nutritional disorder was apparent. The average body weight decreased from about 41 grams to 36 grams by the end of the first month, thereafter increasing slowly to about 42 grams at the end of the test.

2. Finally the test rats were killed and autopsied, and likewise 20 normal control rats of the same body weight for comparison. The average body length of the test rats had increased about 10 per cent, and the tail length 23 per cent, in comparison with the controls.

3. The average organ weights are considered in 3 groups. Those showing a significant increase in weight in the test group are (in order from greatest to least change): spinal cord, eyeballs, stomach, skeleton, epididymides, hypophysis, liver, head, and heart. The changes vary from about 59 per cent in the spinal cord to 5 per cent in the heart.

4. The organs showing but slight (statistically insignificant) change are the kidneys, tongue, uterus, intestines, testes, brain, lungs, suprarenals, and pancreas.

5. The organs showing significant decrease in weight are (in order) the integument, prostate, musculature, external orbital, and submaxillary glands, ovaries, spleen, and thymus. The losses vary from about 14 per cent in the integument to 64 per cent in the thymus.

6. The dystrophic changes in organ weights in many respects show a remarkable degree of correspondence in various types of nutritional deficiency. This may be due to the common underlying factor of interference with the general process of nutrition, usually associated with a deficient intake of food. On the other hand, differences in the changes among the various organs (comparing different organs during the same nutritional deficiency, or the same organ during different deficiencies) may be due to specific differences in their nutritional requirements.