Table Of ContentTHE INFLUENCE OF MINERAL OIL ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ESSENTIAL FATTY
ACID DEFICIENCY IN THE RAT
A T hesis
P resented to
The F aculty of the Departm ent of B iochem istry and N u tritio n
The U n iv ersity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t
of th e Requirem ents fo r the Degree
M aster of Science
by
Eldon Kyle Bacon
August 1950
UMI Number: EP41313
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This thesis, written by
^P0N..m^...BAQPN
under the guidance of his.... Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill
ment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTEB OF SCIENCE
Date AUEUSt,J:950
Faculty Committee
Chairman
(L. LawuJK-Q.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The generous guidance and a ssista n c e
of Dr, S. Lassen w ith th ese experim ents is
g ra te fu lly acknowledged.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................ 3
A ction of M ineral O il on th e U tiliz a tio n of
V itam in A, C arotene, and V itam in D ............................. 3
R elatio n sh ip of M ineral O il in th e D iet to o th er
F at Soluble Growth F acto rs ......................... 4
P roduction of an E sse n tia l F a tty Acid D eficiency
in R ats ..................................................... 5
R elatio n sh ip of o th er E sse n tia l Growth F acto rs
to the Development of an E sse n tia l F a tty Acid
Def ic iency . . ................................................................ . ...................................... 6
EXPERIMENTAL .............................................................................................. 8
MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................... 8
Animals ............... 8
D iets and Supplem ents .............................................................. 8
E xperim ental C onditions ............................. 12
P relim inary Experim ent A ................................. 12
Experim ent B ............ 14
A nalysis of Feces ............... 15
Experim ent C ................................. 18
Experim ent D ..................................................................................... 19
V
PAGE
RESULTS ............................. . ............................. 22
P relim inary Experim ent A ...................................................... 22
Experim ent 5 24
Experim ent G ............................................................................... 31
Experim ent D .................................................................... 38
DISCUSSION .................................................................................................... 40
SUMMARY ............... 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... . 49
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I . Com position of D iets Fed in P relim inary
Experim ent A .................... 10
I I . Com position of D iets Fed in
Experim ents B, C, and D .....................* ............... 11
I I I . Supplem ents A dm inistered in
Experim ent B ...................... 20
IV. Food Consumption in Experim ent B ............................ 27
V. R esults of A nalysis of Feces Samples
in Experim ent B ............................................. 28
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1. M etabolism cage se t up so as to c o lle c t
u rin e and feces sep arately . • • • • • • • . • • • • • • 13
2. Growth curves from prelim inary experim ent A 23
3. Growth curves from experim ent B .............................. 25
4. W ater consum ption in experim ent B . . . . . . . . . . 30
5. Growth curves from experim ent G ............. 32
6. W ater Consumption in experim ent C ................. 33
7. D eficiency symptoms in experim ent C . . . . . . . . 35
8. D eficiency symptoms in experim ent C . . . . . . . . 36
9. D eficiency symptoms in experim ent C ................... 37
10. Growth curves from experim ent D ..................... 39
INTRODUCTION
M ineral o il, or U .S.P. L iquid P etrolatum has been
used w idely in m edicine both as an aid to elim in atio n and
as a fa t su b stitu te in reducing d ie ts . For th is reason i t
is of considerable im portance to study the e ffe c ts of th is
o il on th e anim al organism . I ts hydrocarbon s o lu b ility
c h a ra c te ristic s and i ts low d ig e s tib ility suggest p o ssib le
adverse a ffe c ts on th e u tiliz a tio n of the v ario u s fa t
solu b le e sse n tia l growth fa c to rs.
In a p rev io u sly conducted experim ent the author
noted th e a c c e le ra tin g a c tio n of ed ib le polym erized o ils
and m ineral o il on th e developm ent of a vitam in K d e fic
iency in ra ts (48, 4 9 ). Presum ably, although i t has not
been co n clu siv ely proven, th e unabsorbed p o rtio n s of the
polym erized o il as w ell as th e unabsorbable m ineral o il
ex ert a solvent actio n on the vitam in K produced by
b a c te ria l sy n th esis in th e gut of th e ra t and thus speed up
th e developm ent of a vitam in K d eficien cy . The unusually
long tim e required to produce an e sse n tia l fa tty acid
d eficien cy in ra ts makes th e study o f the actio n of m ineral
o il on th is e sse n tia l growth fa c to r of p a rtic u la r in te re st*
Such inform ation would not only be of value because of
p o ssib le a p p licatio n to human n u tritio n , but also because
of its p o te n tia l use in an e sse n tia l fa tty acid assay
procedure w ith ra ts .
2
C onsequently, a se rie s of experim ents was conducted
to study th e influ ence of m ineral o il on th e developm ent of
an e sse n tia l fa tty acid d eficien cy in th e rat*
