Abstract
Groups of rats received for drink exclusively the various diluted alcohols, for periods up to twenty-one weeks (five months).
Dosage. The mean daily consumption, cubic centimeters of absolute alcohol per kilogram of animals, ranged for the various groups as follows:
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Consumption of fluid. The addition of ethyl alcohol to the drink diminished the consumption of fluid by about a fifth; possibly by diminishing the activity of the animals. There was no material difference between the various concentrations and doses used.
Methyl and wood alcohols, 2.5 per cent, at first decreased the consumption of fluid about a fifth due perhaps to the taste; but this was only temporary, the ultimate consumption being rather more than with ethyl alcohol.
With 5 per cent, these alcohols very greatly decreased the fluid consumption (by nearly half) from the start, until the early death.
Acetone, 2.5 per cent caused considerable decrease, of fluid consumption (by about a third) through the eighteen weeks of the experiment.
Growth. Ethyl alcohol interfered with the growth of the animals. The interference was considerable with 2.5 and 5 per cent; and more marked with 10 per cent.
Methyl and wood alcohols, 5 per cent, produced very considerable loss of weight (by about one-third) starting with the first week of the administration, and continuing until death, which occurred in a few weeks.
Methyl and wood alcohols and acetone, 2.5 per cent, behaved alike, and showed considerable deficits in growth, varying widely in different experiments but generally distinctly more severe than with 10 per cent ethyl alcohol; though much less than with the 5 per cent methyl alcohols.
Food consumption. Ethyl alcohol definitely diminished the consumption of food, by about one-tenth with 2.5 and 5 per cent alcohol; and by about one-fourth with 10 per cent alcohol.
Methyl and wood alcohol (and acetone 2.5 per cent) again behaved alike. The deficit was considerably greater than with ethyl alcohol; namely nearly a third for 2.5 per cent; and about half for 5 per cent.
Relation of food consumption and growth. These generally showed parallel changes, although not always in strict proportion. As the change in growth may precede the change in food consumption, the diminished appetite is evidently not the cause of the checked growth. It may be either the effect; or more likely, diminished growth and diminished appetite are both results of a common cause.
Mortality. Ethyl alcohol and acetone, 2.5 per cent may be consumed for over four months as exclusive drink and in the large dosage of this experiment without fatality.
Ethyl alcohol, 5 per cent; and methyl and wood alcohol 2.5 per cent have a slight mortality (one per cent or less per week of duration) that might be accidental.
Ethyl alcohol, 10 per cent has a higher fatality (2⅓ per cent per week) but the number of animals was limited, so that this also could have been accidental.
Methyl and wood alcohol 5 per cent have a high and prompt mortality, viz., about 10 per cent per week of duration; the methyl being distinctly more toxic than the wood alcohol.
The greater toxicity of methyl alcohol in 5 per cent concentration is probably due to the additive damage of voluntary restriction of liquid and food consumption.
Footnotes
- Received August 2, 1920.
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