Effect of partial starvation followed by a return to normal diet, on the growth of the body and central nervous system of albino rats / by Shinkishi Hatai.

  • Hatai, Shinkishi.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Effect of partial starvation followed by a return to normal diet, on the growth of the body and central nervous system of albino rats / by Shinkishi Hatai. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    TABLE V (continued). Litter 6. Control Rats. Experimented Rats. % Body weight. Percentage, water Percentage, water. Body weight. Brain. Sp. cord. Sp. cord. Brain. 211.5 M. per cent. 77.36 per cent. 69.61 per cent. 69.79 per cent. 77.74 M. 228-7 141.3 F. 77.44 69.21 69.97 77.S4 M. 196.3 Litter 7. 161.2 F. 77.60 69.10 70.S1 7S.01 F. 138.2 nervous system of the rat is mainly a function of its age, and is but slightly modified by the weight of the central nervous system or of the size of the body (Donaldson). In these experiments, however, the relation of age to the nervous system is considerably modified in the experimented rats, since not only the growth of the nervous system has been completely stopped for twenty-one days, but the percentage of water was diminished (79.08 per cent control, and 78.84 per cent experimented — Hatai, 104) by this treatment. There- fore the higher percentage of water found in the central nervous system of the experimented rats after recovery may mean one of two things: (1) As the result of partial starvation, the destructive process which has been traced (see previous paper, Hatai, 104,) might produce a diminution of nerve tissue, and the relatively higher content of water might be due merely to an accumulation of fluid occupying the spaces which had been so developed ; (2) It may in- dicate a much more active metabolioprocess, and be an indication of recuperative activity. The second assumption seems the more probable, since the weight of the central nervous system was normal in relation to the body weight, indicating that there was not a mere accumulation of the fluid occupying newly formed spaces, for this would have tended to reduce the brain weight.