Abstract
Albino mice lose weight within 24 hours following administration of bacterial endotoxin. The initial weight loss is proportional to the dose of endotoxin injected only when this dose is very small. The loss during the 1st day reaches a maximum with 10 to 30 µg of endotoxin; larger doses increase the duration of the overall effect. The rate at which mice regain weight after administration of endotoxin is markedly influenced by the composition of the diet. Recovery was rapid and complete within a few days when the animals were fed commercial pellets or a semisynthetic diet containing casein. In contrast, recovery was slow and incomplete when wheat gluten was used instead of casein in the diet. The deleterious effect of the gluten diet was less marked in older than in younger animals, probably because the latter have less exacting nutritional requirements. It was postulated that the failure of endotoxin-treated mice to regain weight when fed the gluten diet was due to the fact that this protein is low in certain amino acids. In fact, rapid and complete recovery from the weight loss uniformly occurred when the gluten diet was supplemented with proper amounts of lysine and threonine. The composition of the diet did not influence the extent of the initial loss of weight caused by endotoxin, nor did it prevent the animals from developing tolerance to this substance.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (693.3 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Berry L. J., Smythe D. S. EFFECTS OF BACTERIAL ENDOTOXINS ON METABOLISM : IV. RENAL FUNCTION AND ADRENOCORTICAL ACTIVITY AS FACTORS IN THE NITROGEN EXCRETION ASSAY FOR ENDOTOXIN. J Exp Med. 1961 Oct 31;114(5):761–778. doi: 10.1084/jem.114.5.761. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- DUBOS R. J., SCHAEDLER R. W. Effect of nutrition on the resistance of mice to endotoxin and on the bactericidal power of their tissues. J Exp Med. 1959 Dec 1;110:935–950. doi: 10.1084/jem.110.6.935. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- DUBOS R. J., SCHAEDLER R. W. The effect of the intestinal flora on the growth rate of mice, and on their susceptibility to experimental infections. J Exp Med. 1960 Mar 1;111:407–417. doi: 10.1084/jem.111.3.407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dubos R., Schaedler R. W., Costello R. L. THE EFFECT OF ANTIBACTERIAL DRUGS ON THE WEIGHT OF MICE. J Exp Med. 1963 Jan 31;117(2):245–257. doi: 10.1084/jem.117.2.245. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- SCRIMSHAW N. S., TAYLOR C. E., GORDON J. E. Interactions of nutrition and infection. Am J Med Sci. 1959 Mar;237(3):367–403. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]