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Effect of Antibiotics, Sulfonamides, and a Nitrofuran on Development of Hepatic Cirrhosis in Choline-Deficient Rats^{1 ,2}

Department of Animal Science, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

Penicillin G sodium, neomycin sulfate, oxytetracycline, sulfanilamide, sulfaguanidine, and furazolidone prevented or decreased the severity of hepatic cirrhosis in choline-deficient AES-strain rats over a 630-day test period. Penicillin or sulfanilamide did not prevent abnormal accumulation of lipids in livers of weanling rats subjected to acute choline deficiency; furthermore, they did not decrease incidence of hemorrhagic kidneys or mortality rates in such acutely deficient rats.

The protective action of these diverse antimicrobial diet additives indicates that noxious enteric agents are involved in the pathogenesis of hepatic cirrhosis in the choline-deficient rat. Inasmuch as none of the choline-deficient control rats developed neoplasms, no inference can be drawn regarding any possible effects of the diet additives on incidence of neoplasms in choline-deficient rats.

² Supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant C-1018. Donations of vitamins were made by Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, and neomycin sulfate by The Upjohn Company.

Manuscript received 9 October 1961.