Abstract
Survival and growth of young rats on diets containing sodium benzoate are possible only if the diets furnish a supply of glycine, or of a precursor, adequate for the detoxication of the benzoate and for the formation of new tissue proteins. Previous experiments have demonstrated that the injurious effects of toxic benzoate diets disappear if glycine is added to the diets. 1 On the basis that readily available precursors of glycine might show a protective action similar to that of glycine, a search is being made for such precursors. Results of experiments with glucosamine and glycollic acid are reported in this paper.
Quantities of these compounds, equivalent to the benzoate concentration in the experimental diets, were found to be non-toxic when added to the basal diet. (Chart 1.) No change in the degree of survival or in the rate of growth resulted from the addition of neutralized glucosamine hydrochloride to the toxic benzoate diet. On the other hand, the addition of sodium glycollate to the toxic benzoate diet afforded practically the same protection as that furnished by glycine itself. These experiments are being continued in order to determine whether glycollic acid is actually a precursor of glycine in the animal body.
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