Relationship between Orotic Acid and Animal Protein Factors of Casein

Abstract

FOR several years the various manifestations induced in rats by the deficiency of new dietary factors present in crude casein, that is, animal protein factors of the casein, have been investigated in this laboratory. A natural diet, such as that proposed by Randoin and Causeret, namely: ground cereals (wheat, maize, barley, oats, rye), 88 per cent; wheat germ, 5 per cent; crude casein, 5 per cent; calcium lactate, 1.5 per cent; sodium chloride, 0.5 per cent; carrots and fresh vegetables ad libitum twice a week, enables normal growth and reproduction for many generations; but a series of changes occur when the crude casein is replaced by a casein purified by repeated washings with water^1–4. These changes may be summarized as follows: (1) alteration of the body-weight curve; (2) high mortality in the newly born; (3) histological lesions of the cells, mainly of the hepatic cells where lysis and necrobiosis occur; (4) cutaneous lesions and high incidence of neoplasms in the surviving rats of the first generation.