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Failure of Certain American Yeasts and of Selenium to Prevent Chronic Muscular Dystrophy in the Young Rat^1,2,

Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Dietary necrotic liver degeneration developed more readily and more rapidly in young rats with initial low stores of vitamin E, as judged by their spontaneous recovery from acute muscular dystrophy during the period of lactation, than in rats fed a commercial pellet ration until the 21st day. The vitamin E-low necrogenic diets contained 8.3% of crude casein, 15% of Fleischmann yeast or 15 to 30% of Torula food yeast. Certain known strains of American yeasts, at 15% dietary concentration, gave complete or partial protection under the given experimental conditions.

Chronic muscular dystrophy occurred in many of the vitamin E-low young rats that did not die with dietary necrotic liver degeneration. Paretic symptoms appeared during the first few weeks and became progressively worse until death occurred, with normal liver and typical muscular dystrophy. Young rats receiving pellets until the 21st day did not develop the muscle disorder.

Supplementation of the 8.3% casein and 30% Torula diets with 0.5 ppm of selenium as sodium selenite prevented dietary necrotic liver degeneration but failed to protect the young rats against muscular dystrophy.

² Preliminary reports of part of this investigation were presented at the Third International Congress of Biochemists, Brussels, 1955 and the Third International Vitamin E Congress, Venice, 1955.

Manuscript received 24 January 1961.