Abstract
This is a report of the production and prevention of morphological changes in the fore-stomach of rats by means of the diet.
Pappenheimer and Larimore 1 described lesions in the fore-stomachs of rats which appeared as round or oval discs with a small central ulcerated depression. The cause of the lesion was not found, but excess base or acid or Vitamin A deficiency were found not to be the etiological agents. Findlay 2 described changes in the fore-stomach associated with Vitamin B deficiency. Fujimaki has published a number of reports on the production of similar morphological changes in the fore-stomachs of rats by feeding different purified diets. His first hypothesis 3 , 4 was that the condition was caused by Vitamin A deficiency, but later 5 , 6 found that butterfat and/or cod liver oil caused a more marked change. The conclusion was drawn 6 that any of a number of fatty acids might play a partial etiological rôle.
The basal diet used to produce the lesion described here is as follows: Casein (vitamin free) 4.0%; dried brewer's yeast 5.0%; salts McCollum No. 185, 4.0%; butterfat, 5.0%; carbohydrate (starch, sugar, or dextrin), 82.0%; viosterol (15 drops per kilo of food).
Rats 28 to 35 days old, weighing 60 to 110 gm. were used. The lesion develops within 3 months, and all of the animals on the above diet which have been examined to date (40) have been affected.
The macroscopic appearance of the lesion varies from a few small elevated round or oval discs to long ridges of thickened epithelium with small papillomatous projections. There is a depression in the center of ridges and discs which may show ulceration. The normal fore-stomach is thin and elastic, but in animals with a severe lesion the epithelium is so greatly thickened that its elasticity has been lost.
Older lesions may show from 2 to 8 epithelial cysts which vary in size up to 6 mm. in diameter. The most frequent site of occurrence is near the ridge separating the fore-stomach from the glandular portion, but it may occur in any one or all parts of the fore-stomach.
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