Influence of Dietary Fat on the Efficacy of Agents Protecting Against Muscular Dystrophy in the Chick

A DEFICIENCY of vitamin E in young chickens results in the development of either encephalomalacia, exudative diathesis, muscular dystrophy or a combination of the individual disorders. With appropriate dietary conditions, a single disease can be produced uncomplicated by the presence of the other deficiency symptoms (Nesheim and Scott, 1961). Thus, for the purpose of studying muscular dystrophy in the chick, the cystine and vitamin E deficient diets employed to produce the disorder normally have contained a low level of selenium to prevent exudative diathesis and a sufficiently low dietary level of linoleic acid to prevent onset of encephalomalacia (Nesheim et al., 1959; Hazzard and Leonard, 1961; Scott and Calvert, 1962). Although it is well known that dietary fat is not required for development of the dystrophic lesions (Dam et al., 1952; Machlin and Shalkop, 1956) investigators have commonly included 4% of vitamin E-stripped lard in the basal ration as a…