Diet and Tissue Growth

THE RELATIVE TOXICITY OF CHLOROFORM GIVEN SUBCUTANEOUSLY TO RATS FED ON TWO DIETS DEFICIENT IN RESPECT TO THEIR NITROGENOUS COMPONENTS, THE SOLE SOURCES OF PROTEIN IN WHICH WERE, RESPECTIVELY, GLIADIN AND GELATIN AND TO RATS WITHOUT FOOD, IS AS FOLLOWS: gelatin diet > fasting > gliadin diet. The rate of regeneration of liver cells after chloroform poisoning in rats fed a diet in which gliadin is the only protein is about as rapid as that in animals fed a diet containing casein as the source of nitrogen. The rate of regeneration on a food containing its nitrogen as gelatin and also during fasting is definitely slower than that in animals fed the gliadin food. The results of these experiments indicate that the requirement for the essential amino acids for growth of individual organs of the body is less than that for correlated growth of the whole body.