102 CHOLINE 



some tubular epithelial necrosis.^^-' ^^^ No growth effect was noted if the 

 food intake was equalized. Doubling of the methionine content of the arti- 

 ficial milk was effective in the prevention of these symptoms, ^^"^ and it is 

 evident that the pig does not lack the ability to methylate aminoethanol 

 if labile methyl is available in diets otherwise adequate. 



The need of choline by newborn calves fed a choline-deficient, artificial 

 milk was demonstrated by Johnson et al}'^^ After 7 days an acute syndrome 

 developed which was characterized by marked weakness, labored or rapid 

 breathing, and anorexia. Certain of the calves showed e\ddences of renal 

 hemorrhage and fatty liver. These effects were prevented by choline, al- 

 though subsec^uent removal of the choline supplement was not injurious. 

 Earlier studies by Waugh et al?^^ had emphasized the importance to the 

 calf of the relatively high concentration of choline in colostrum and the 

 relation of this fact to the level of choline in the blood of the calf. A decrease 

 in blood choline was noted in calves, 5 weeks of age, following the removal 

 of milk from the diet, although restoration of the choline level was not ob- 

 tained by dietary supplements of choline. 



Evidence of choline deficiency in rabbits is lacking, but experiments on 

 the young have not yet been reported. Hypercholesteremia and aortic ather- 

 osclerosis were not prevented by choline in the study by Firstbrook,^^^ but 

 others have concluded that choline does have a beneficial effect in the pre- 

 vention or removal of this induced abnormality in rabbits. ^^*"^°'' Sprunt 

 concluded that subcutaneously administered choline inhibited the suscep- 

 tibility of the rabbit to infection with vaccinia,^'*^ and a transitory decrease 

 in red cells has been observed following the administration of choline in 

 rabbits rendered polycythemic by cobalt.^"- Transmethylation occurs in 

 this species as evidenced by the isolation of labeled choline, creatine, 

 anserine, and creatinine, after the feeding of deuteriomethionine.^^^ 



A deficiency of choline or of methyl has not been demonstrated in the 



382 B. C. Johnson and M. F. James, /. Nutrition 36, 339 (1948). 



393 A. L. Neumann, J. L. Krider, M. F. James, and B. C. Johnson, J. Nutrition 38, 

 195 (1949). 



394 R. O. Nesheim and B. C. Johnson, /. Nutrition 41, 149 (1950). 



395 B. C. Johnson, H. H. Mitchell, J. A. Pinkos, and C. C. Morrill, J. Nutrition 43, 

 37 (1951). 



396 R. K. Waugh, S. M. Hauge, and W. A. King, /. Dairy Sci. 30, 457, 641 (1947). 



397 J. B. Firstbrook, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 74, 741 (1950). 



398 L. M. Morrison and A. Rossi, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 69, 283 (1948). 



399 A. Steiner, Arch. Pathol. 45, 327 (1948). 



400 C. Moses and G. M. Longabaugh, Arch. Pathol. 50, 179 (1950). 

 "1 D. H. Sprunt, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 51, 226 (1942). 



402 M. Saviano and V. Baccari, Arch, fisiol. 43, 243 (1943). 



4''3 J. R. Schneck, S. Simmonds, M. Cohn, C. M. Stevens, and V. du Vigneaud, J. 

 Biol. Chem. 149, 355 (1943). 



