Parathyroid Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia. 117 



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Parathyroid hypertrophy and hyperplasia in fowls. 



By David Marine {by invitation). 



[From the H. K. Cushing Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, 

 Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.] 



Physiological overgrowth of the parathyroid glands in mam- 

 mals has been very rarely observed. Erdheim, 1 Bauer 2 and Strada 3 

 have recently described its occurrence in man in association with 

 some cases of osteomalacia. Three instances of undoubted general 

 parathyroid enlargement in bitches in association with lactation 

 have come under my observation. 



In the reports of partial removal and of transplantation of 

 mammalian parathyroids, particularly in dogs, one of the most 

 characteristic features has been the absence of any noteworthy 

 compensatory enlargement of the remaining portion within the 

 time limits in which other tissues, like the thyroid, heart muscle, 

 kidney, etc., react to artificially induced insufficiencies. 



In the course of some experiments with the thyroid gland in 

 fowls in 1910, I observed several instances of marked enlargement 

 of the parathyroids independent of the changes occurring in the 

 thyroid glands. These parathyroid changes were found in fowls 

 which had been fed with maize and wheat for periods of 2 to 6 

 months. The observations were repeated in 191 1, 1912, and 1913, 

 with similar results. 



Since calcium temporarily relieves the symptoms of parathyroid 

 tetany in mammals, and since maize and wheat contain very little 

 calcium, it was thought possibly the parathyroid overgrowth might 

 be a result of a calcium deficiency, and if this was so, calcium 

 might exert some protective action against parathyroid overgrowth. 



Calcium hydroxide, calcium lactate, calcium carbonate (as 

 chalk and crushed oyster shells), magnesium carbonate, strontium 



1 Erdheim, J., " Ueber Epithelkorperbefunde bei Osteomalacic" Sitz. Ber. Akad. 

 Wiss., 1907, Bd. CXVI, 311-370. 



2 Bauer, T., " Morphologische Studien tiber die Beziehungen der Epithelkor- 

 perchen zum Kalkstoffwechsel," Frankfurt. Zeilschr.f. Path., 191 1, VII, 23. 



'Strada, F., "Le paratiroide nelT osteomalacia e nell' osteoporosi senile," 

 Pathologica Anno, I, 1909, 423-437. 



