Popis: |
SCHMITTLE et al. (1958a) described a disease caused by the feeding of a toxic feed. Wilder and Dugan (1958) reported that the disease is probably caused by a mixture of toxic materials occurring in the unsaponifiable fraction of certain fats which had been subjected to some unknown adverse and drastic treatment. The primary manifestation of the disease is hydropericardium. Occasionally exudates and muscular dystrophy have been observed. These three symptoms have been associated with vitamin E deficiencies (Bird and Culton, 1940; Ames, 1956). In a preliminary experiment (unpublished) we found that feeding lauroyl peroxide resulted in hydropericardium. These observations led us to postulate that the toxic factor is a product of fat oxidation, such as a peroxide, which in turn either could destroy dietary vitamin E, or antagonize the biochemical activity of vitamin E in the body. The following experiments did demonstrate that under the oxidizing conditions employed, fats causing … |