Abstract
In the course of our work on the influence of the glands of internal secretion on mineral metabolism in albino rats, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus metabolism in thymectomized rats was studied.
Twenty male and 22 female albino rats were used, 6 animals of each sex being kept as paired feeding controls. They were thymectomized at 7 weeks of age. Details regarding procedure and methods of analysis will be found in a previous publication. 1 Urinary nitrogen excretion increased progressively from 13% of the intake during the control period to 40% 10 weeks after operation. In the paired feeding controls the urinary N excretion increased from 16% of the intake to 25% only, during the same time. The increase in N excretion was accounted for by urea N. Fecal N excretion, expressed in percentage of intake, remained unchanged. The drop in N retention was more pronounced in the thymectomized rats than in the paired feeding controls, though a positive N balance was maintained at all times and the gain in weight was normal in both groups. No difference was found between thymectomized and control animals regarding the excretion of NH3 nitrogen, uric acid, creatinine and creatine. There was no change in the calcium, magnesium and phosphorus metabolism.
Our studies are being extended to include the metabolism of sulfur and glutathione in thymectomized rats.
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