Abstract
A 0.1% aqueous solution of a preparation consisting of a selected fraction of the sodium salts of the total fatty acids of hydnocarpus oil was injected intravenously into 6 normal albino rabbits over a period of approximately one year. Injections were given at biweekly intervals into the marginal ear veins. The individual dose was calculated upon the basis of 0.0166 gm. of the sodium hydnocarpate preparation per kilo of body weight, and ranged from 0.022 gm. to 0.03 gm. (0.22 cc. to 0.3 cc. of the aqueous solution). Each animal received a total of 101 injections.
During the period of observation no clinically detectable reactions to the drug occurred in any of the rabbits. At the end of this time 2 animals died, one on the day following the last injection and the other 3 days after injection. The remaining 4 animals were killed 5 days following completion of treatment. The chief pathological findings were limited to the liver and kidneys with the exception of the 2 rabbits that died. In one of these there was in addition marked pulmonary edema and in the other diffuse lobular pneumonia with considerable edema of the pulmonary tissues. Free fluid was not present in any of the serous cavities of the 6 animals, nor was there any detectable edema of the skin or subcutaneous tissues.
The liver in each case showed varying degrees of fatty infiltration, especially around the central veins where there was also, in a few instances, evidence of beginning necrosis of the parenchymal cells.
At the time of autopsy no significant gross renal abnormality was noticed. Later comparisonstudy of the fixed specinlens in with the fixed kidneys of normal rabbits revealed definite changes in color.
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