TOXEMIA OF PREGNANCY IN THE RABBIT* I. CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS AND PATHOLOGXr~ BY HARRY

Toxic affections associated with pregnancy have been reported in several species of animals, notably the sheep (2)and guinea pig (3); it is also common knowledge among breeders that overfat animals of all kinds are apt to die during gestation or parturition, but the exact nature and pathogenesis of these disorders is not known. A highly fatal affection associated with pregnancy also occurs in the rabbit. This condition is of interest, not only as a disease of the rabbit, but also because it bears a close analogy to the toxemias of pregnancy in man and may provide a means for an experimental approach to problems connected with human toxemia. Sporadic cases of this affection have been under observation in the laboratory breeding colony for several years. In the fall of 1935, the breeding colony was moved to Princeton, and with the resumption of breeding operations there was an unprecedented outbreak of fatal cases of toxemia. The present report is based on the study of material provided by this outbreak supplemented by data obtained from previous observations. It should be made clear at the outset that, strictly speaking, the disease is not limited to pregnant rabbits, but occurs post partum and in pseudopregnant females. It is also evident that all cases of toxemia are not identical clinically or pathologically, but for the present no