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REPRODUCTION AND DIET IN THE RAT
Author(s) -
Kennedy Walter P.
Publication year - 1926
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0370-2901
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1926.sp000389
Subject(s) - sterility , reproduction , biology , excretion , germ , medicine , endocrinology , agar , andrology , physiology , zoology , botany , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , bacteria
1. The presence of vitamin E in ether‐extract of crushed oats isshown, and its necessity for normal reproduction in both male and female rats is confirmed. 2. Deficiency of calcium in an otherwise complete diet is shown to induce sterility in both male and female rats. The effect is probably on the germ cells. 3. A protein intake of 75 per cent. in the form of caseinogen is also found to result in sterility in both sexes of the rat. Again it is apparently the germ cells that are affected. 4. Mitchell's assertion that agar‐agar is necessary for reproduction when feeding with purified diets is not confirmed, but it is found to be of benefit in feeding with a diet of over 70 per cent. protein, without other carbohydrate. 5. Reader and Drummond's finding regarding the absence of kidney degeneration after the excretion of very large quantities of nitrogen over periods of about four months is confirmed. The grants which enabled this investigation to be undertaken were supplied by the Earl of Moray Fund and the Medical Research Council.