Journal of Nutrition Vol. 51 No. 4 December 1953, pp. 609-622
Copyright © 1953 by American Society for Nutrition
The Toxicity of Tri-O-Cresyl Phosphate for Rats as Related to Dietary Casein Level, Vitamin D and Vitamin A1
E. L. Hove
Department of Animal Husbandry and Nutrition, Agricultural Experiment Station of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn
- 1. Growth inhibition of rats fed diets containing 0.1% of tri-o-cresyl phosphate was only partially prevented by vitamin E even at high levels. However, high dietary casein levels allowed almost normal growth even in the absence of vitamin E.
- 2. Liver, brain and carcass lipids from rats fed tri-o-cresyl phosphate showed increased conjugated dienes, decreased apparent arachidonic acid and decreased tocopherol levels. Supplements of vitamin E resulted in nearly normal values for these factors. Increased dietary casein levels, even without vitamin E, largely prevented the lipid changes. In control rats, increased casein levels resulted in an increased arachidonic acid content of tissues.
- 3. Tri-o-cresyl phosphate decreased liver vitamin A deposition in rats fed ß-carotene or, to a lesser degree, vitamin A acetate.
- 4. In vitro studies revealed a pro-oxidant effect of trio-o-cresyl phosphate, carbon tetrachloride, pyridine and pentachloronaphthalene in catalyzing the destruction of carotene in the presence of fat-peroxide. Limited data have shown that X-disease in cattle (chloronaphthalene poisoning) is associated with a decrease of plasma tocopherol as well as plasma vitamin A. An hypothesis is advanced relating the toxic mechanism of the fat-soluble toxic chemicals to their generalized oxidative action in unsaturated lipid systems.
1 Published with the approval of the Director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. This work was aided by a grant from the National Vitamin Foundation, and was presented at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Chicago, April, 1953. Vitamins were contributed by Merck and Company and the Staley Manufacturing Company.
Manuscript received 6 August 1953.