Abstract
The experiment to be described was suggested by a finding reported by Buchbinder and Kern, 1 namely, that ligation of the common bile duct in the pup is followed by a decline in the blood calcium and by the development of an osteoporotic condition. Since the incisors of the rat are teeth of continuous eruption and relatively convenient for microscopic study, this animal could be expected to show the effects of an icteric calcium metabolism upon growing teeth.
In a series of rats, all of them males, white, weighed every day, and kept on a standard diet, ligation of the bile duct was done with asepsis and ether-magnesium sulphate anesthesia. The duct was found in the hepatoduodenal ligament and was divided between ligatures. The survival-times of a series of 13 such animals are given in Table I.
The urine became bright yellow less than 12 hours after the operation and remained so, leaving yellow stains on the hair about the penis. The otherwise pink ears assumed a yellow tint. The feces became lighter in color. Ascites developed in only one rat; spontaneous hemorrhages were observed in one other.
Construction of weight curves showed that it was impossible to tell, from daily observations of the animal's weight, when death was imminent. The operation was always followed by a decline in weight lasting from one to 5 days. In some cases a period of recovery followed, with a normal daily increase in weight. In one striking case death occurred suddenly on the 14th day while the rat was gaining consistently and weighing 14 gm. more than at operation. There was no ascites in this rat. Comparison of weights at operation with survival-times reveals no correlation; this may be partly due to the narrow range of weights in the series studied (132 to 185 gm.).
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