Kffect of Thiamin Chloride on Eimeria nieschulzi Infection of the Rat. ∗

Abstract

It was shown in previous experiments 1 , 2 that wheat middlings and wheat bran supplements had the property of creating in the rat host a condition more favorable for the development of the coccidium Eimeria nieschulzi than the control ration, or even the control ration supplemented with white wheat flour. In a thorough recheck of the effects of wheat middlings (gray shorts), the following test ration (parts by weight) was used: beet sugar, 71; soy bean oil meal, expeller process, 10; casein, commercial, medium fineness, 10; normal salt mixture (Harris), 4; lard, 3; cod liver oil, 2. When 30 parts of wheat middlings were substituted for some of the sugar, casein, and soy bean oil meal, increased coccidium development, as indicated by counts of oöcysts passed by rats on the 2 rations, continued to be evident. Since, as was previously concluded, it seemed that amount of fiber could be ruled out as the causative factor, an investigation of the effects of extracts of wheat middlings was indicated.

Weighed amounts of wheat middlings were extracted by covering them with an excess of 95% ethyl alcohol and shaking several times daily for 3 days. The alcohol was recovered by filtration, and the process repeated twice. The test ration consisted of the control ration described above with the addition of alcoholic extract equivalent to 4 g of middlings dried onto each 10 g of the ration. This meant that each rat in the test series ate daily the material extracted by alcohol from about 4 g of wheat middlings. Animals were put on the rations when litters had attained a mean weight between 65 g and 85 g. After 10 days on the rations they were inoculated with 2000 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria nieschulzi, and 3 days later with the same dosage.