Protective Action of Copper and Iron against Bartonella Muris Anemia. ∗

Abstract

Steenbock and his coworkers, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Beard and Myers 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 and others have established the importance of copper and iron in hemoglobin formation. Young rats fed on a diet of milk deficient in copper develop an anemia within 6 to 8 weeks, that can readily be prevented by the administration of small quantities of copper to the diet. The minimal requirement was 0.025 mg. copper per rat per day. Since albino rats are subject to Bartonella muris infection spontaneously during the early weeks following weaning it was thought that the “milk” anemia of the rat may be complicated by infection with Bartonella muris. The beneficial prophylactic effect of copper in “milk” anemia suggested its trial in Bartonella muris anemia of splenectomized rats.

The rats in these experiments are all carriers of Bartonella muris infection. They have been raised in our laboratory under constant environmental and dietary conditions. The diet for the past 10 years has consisted of 15 gm. per rat per day of a mixture composed of hominy 100 parts, rolled oats 25 parts, fine meat and bone 25 parts, dry skim milk 16 parts and salt 1 1/2 parts. Twice a week the rats received whole milk and bread ad lib., and greens (lettuce leaves). The exact quantity of copper in this diet was difficult to estimate but the food mixture was found to contain about 0.025 mg. per 15 gm. of food.† The copper was added in the form of copper sulphate in doses equivalent to 0.1 mg. of elemental copper per day. Lactose was used as a vehicle. The iron was added in the form of iron ammonium citrate. The daily addition of iron was 1 mg. as elemental iron.