Efficacy of Glycine and Arginine in Alleviating the Stress Induced by Dietary Excesses of Single Amino Acids

MOST amino acids, when given in excess, produce toxic effects as measured by growth inhibition in the case of orally administered amino acids (reviewed by Harper et al., 1955), or by death and/ or gross variations in certain blood constituents in the case of intravenously or intraperitoneally injected amino acids (Gullino et al., 1956; Winitz et al., 1956; du Ruisseau et al., 1956; and Harper et al., 1956). Except for a few cases the majority of the investigations of this type in avian nutrition have studied the relationships of amino acids with a concurrent deficiency of one or more of the B complex vitamins (Naber et al., 1952; Anderson et al., 1951; Hsu and Combs, 1952; Machlin et al., 1952, among others). Madden et al. (1945) demonstrated that glycine administered intravenously increases the tolerance of the dog for certain toxic mixtures of amino acids. Gullino et al. (1956) and Najarian…