The prevention and cure of rickets by means of bile.

Abstract

Since it has now become well established that cod liver oil prevents and cures rickets, the question naturally rises whether products of mammalian liver, in particular, bile, might not exert a similar action. The bile used was freshly obtained gall bladder bile from the pig. The animals used in the experiments as test subjects for the effects of bile were rats about 32 days old. The rats were divided into two groups.

In group I bile was added to the diet No. 3143 used by McCollum, Simmonds, Shipley, and Park 1 for the production of rickets in the rat.

The diet with the bile added was then fed for a period of 35 to 36 days with the object of determining whether the bile would prevent the development of rickets. In group II the rickets producing diet without the addition of bile was fed for 35 days, by which time, as is now well known, well marked rickets develops in the rat. At the end of that time bile was added to the diet and the diet plus the bile fed for 15 days. The idea was to determine if bile would exert a curative action on rickets already established. The rats on the diets containing bile were abundantly controlled by rats on the same diet without the addition of bile.

The following results were obtained :

Group I. 7 cc. of pig bile per day prevented the development of rickets. On gross examination of the animals the bones were found normal. On microscopic examination the cartilage proved completely calcified. In the case of some animals, however, the trabeculz showed here and there traces of osteoid in excess of the normal. 3 cc. of pig bile per day did not completely, prevent the development of rickets. 1 cc. exerted a well marked ifihibitory action but did not prevent the development of the condition.