Effect of Meat Extract on Fatty Infiltration of Liver in Depan-creatized and Duct-Ligated Dogs

Abstract

Since Fisher 1 and Allan, et al., 2 first reported fatty infiltration of the livers in depancreatized dogs maintained on insulin, the observation has been confirmed repeatedly. 3 Recently, it has been shown in this 4 and other 5 , 6 laboratories that ligation of the external pancreatic ducts results in similar fatty changes in the liver. In all of these studies the diet fed to the dogs consisted largely of raw whole meat and glucose.

In the experiments reported here a dried meat powder preparation,∗ from which the extractives had been removed, was substituted for the whole meat. The diet contained meat powder, cracker meal, milk powder, salts, brewer's yeast, bone ash, cod liver and corn oil. As shown in Table I, little or no fatty infiltration of the liver occurred in 6 depancreatized and in 3 ductligated dogs which were fed the diet for periods varying from 6.5 to 19 weeks after operation. The fatty acid content of the whole livers, determined as previously described, 7 averaged 6.2% with a range of 3.12 to 10.5% (Table I). When the meat powder diet was supplemented with 15 ml of a concentrated meat extract∗ (the combination of meat powder plus extract being equivalent to about 250 g of raw lean beef) the livers of one ductligated and 2 depancreatized dogs contained 18.3 to 19.8% fatty acids after 5 to 9 weeks (Table I). It is therefore concluded that the fatty liver of these dogs is due in large measure to some substance or substances present in the extractive fraction of meat.