Premium
VITAMIN A CONTENT OF THE LIVERS OF HUSKIES AND SOME SEALS FROM ANTARCTIC AND SUB ANTARCTIC REGIONS
Author(s) -
Southcott R. V.,
Chesterfield N. J.,
Lugg D. J.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1971.tb50269.x
Subject(s) - ingestion , physiology , vitamin , seal (emblem) , biology , retinol , zoology , endocrinology , geography , archaeology
Analyses of the vitamin A content of the livers of two species of seal, and the introduced (domestic) husky, in the Antarctic or subantarctic regions are presented. The vitamin A content of the liver of the husky, Canis familiarls, indicates that the ingestion of about 100 gm of liver would be toxic to an adult. This confirms previous beliefs, held by the Eskimos, of the toxicity of this organ, and supports suggestions that illnesses in the Antarctic in the Australian Expedition of 1911 to 1914 were due to acute hypervitaminosis A after eating husky liver. In the case of the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, and the Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddelli, the levels found indicate that acute toxic reactions are unlikely to follow the ingestion of liver.