A preliminary note on the experimental production of edema as related to “war dropsy”

Abstract

Denton and Kohman 1 report the occurrence of dropsy in a large per cent. of rats fed on a carrot diet with a low percentage of nitrogen. This dropsy is produced by a diet very similar to that of man in certain war zones where “war dropsy” has been reported.

It was of interest to determine whether the case of the edema was a lack of protein, rather than a deficiency of either of the vitamines, fat-soluble A, or water-soluble B, or a deficiency of salts in the diet.

The diets with which dropsy was produced in rats were made up of carrots, corn starch, fat (butter or lard), salts and an alcoholic extract of wheat germ. The percentage of all the ingredients, except carrots (the only source of protein) was varied, but in every case some of the rats developed marked edema, which manifested itself in various ways, sometimes with fluid in the pleural and peritoneal cavities, and sometimes with fluid collected subcutaneously, especially on the chest and about the fore legs. Weakness always occurred and usually loss of weight, except for a final gain due to the accumulation of fluid in the tissues.

In one experiment two out of three rats developed edema on a diet adequate in every way except for its protein content. In both cases the edema was subcutaneous about the neck and chest. One of the animals died. The other was fed a diet the same as the above described diet in every way, except that 18 per cent. of pure casein was added in place of 18 per cent. of corn starch. Marked improvement occurred in twenty-four hours and complete recovery in two days. After eating this diet for two weeks the animal was again given the original low protein diet but with double portions of salts.