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 Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Moore, T. Articles by Symonds, K. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Moore, T. Articles by Symonds, K. R.

Kidney Changes in Vitamin E-Deficient Rats

Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, University of Cambridge and Medical Research Council, Cambridge, England

1. Rats were kept on diets deficient in vitamin E, with or without supplements of tocopherol and containing various fats, for prolonged periods. They were then killed, and histological sections were made from their kidneys. One kidney from each animal was fixed promptly in formol saline, but the other was allowed to remain in the carcass for a standard period before fixation.

2. By comparisons of sections from kidneys in which fixation had been prompt or delayed the role of autolysis in producing the typical histolysis in the cortical tubules, indicative of vitamin E deficiency, was confirmed.

3. The intensity of post-mortem renal histolysis was influenced by the nature and quantity of the dietary fat. Histolysis regularly occurred with a standard vitamin E-deficient diet containing lard. With cod-liver oil in the diet histolysis was intensified. No histolysis occurred, however, when the fat was coconut oil, or when additional carbohydrate replaced the fat component. Linseed oil, in spite of its high degree of unsaturation, had very little potency in promoting histolysis.

4. Post-mortem renal histolysis was prevented by the administration of adequate weekly supplements of dl--tocopheryl acetate, irrespective of the nature of the dietary fat. The addition of methylene blue to the diet also prevented histolysis.

5. The tendency to post-mortem renal histolysis, once incurred, was difficult to correct, and responded only to prolonged dosing with -tocopherol.

6. After rats had been restricted for very long periods to a vitamin E-deficient diet containing lard, or for somewhat shorter period to a diet containing cod-liver oil, renal abnormalities could be observed without the intervention of autolysis. Thus changes were apparent in some of the nuclei of the cortical tubules even when the kidney had been fixed promptly after the death of the animal.