Absence of Liver Damage in Chicks Hypoprothrombinemic Due to Vitamin K Deficiency or Ingestion of 3,3'-methylenebis (4-hydroxycoumarin) ∗

Abstract

Summary

1. Hypoprothrombinemia was produced in chicks by feeding a vitamin K-free diet, or by adding dicumarol to a standard commercial diet. 2. The livers of these animals showed no gross or microscopic changes which would distinguish them from corresponding groups of control animals. 3. Fatty infiltration of the liver which occurred in some of the chicks was related to the synthetic diet employed; but was not related to the lack of vitamin K or choline, or to the degree of hypoprothrombinemia. 4. In chicks there can be produced severe hypoprothrombinemia un-associated with histologic evidence of liver damage demonstrable by the methods employed in this study.