388 Fasting Studies [April 



Data pertainlng to the composition of muscle front fasting dogs 



The increase in the moisture content of fasting muscle may be 

 associated, in part, with the decrease in the fat content; in normal 

 animals there is a decrease in the percentage of moisture associated 

 with an increase in the fat content of muscle.^^ The increase in 

 the moisture content of fasting muscle may also be due to changes 

 in the colloidal State or the molecular condition of the cellular con- 

 stituents. This increase in moisture is more significant when we 

 consider that there is apparently a greater decrease in the cytoplasm 

 than in the nuclei of the cells as a result of a fast;^^ the nucleus 

 and the connective tissue, the substances which would then pre- 

 dominate, normally contain less water than the cytoplasm. The 

 increase in the moisture content of fasting muscle has been noted 

 by other investigators. 



The lower absolute nitrogen content of fasting muscle, when 

 considered on the basis of fresh muscle, becomes an increased rela- 

 tive nitrogen content, when the values for nitrogen are calculated 



^Content of phosphorus = o.i6 per cent. 



'Content of phosphorus = 0.21 per cent. 



'A sixty-four day fast which resulted in 

 original weight. The animal received 320 c.c. 



^'A twenty-one day fast. 



" A fifteen day fast, which resulted in a loss of 38 per cent. of the original 

 weight. The animal did not receive water. 



" This f act, together with certain other deductions, has been corroborated 

 by data in a personal communication from Professor P. F. Trowbridge of the 

 University of Missouri. 



"Morgulis: Archiv für Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, 1911, xxxii, 

 p. 169. 



a loss of 62 per cent. 

 of water daily. 



of the 



