Alleviation of the Leg Abnormality in Zinc-deficient Chicks by Histamine and by Various Anti-arthritic Agents

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with zinc-deficient chicks fed a diet based on soybean protein (13 ppm Zn) to assess the effects, on the “arthritis-like” or “perosis-like” leg defect, of feeding a number of commonly used anti-arthritic agents. Prevention of the leg deformity in chicks was compared with that elicited by dietary histamine dihydrochloride (0.2%) and by dietary zinc (88 ppm Zn). Either histamine or zinc essentially prevented the occurrence of leg abnormalities. Of the five antiarthritic agents tested, four were highly effective in preventing the leg disorder. The effective agents and approximate dietary level (in percent) required for protection were: aspirin, 0.5 to 1.0; phenylbutazone, 0.2; cortisone acetate, 0.1; and indomethacin, 0.025. Dietary gold sodium thiosulfate (0.2%), the fifth anti-arthritic agent, had little effect, but it was not tested by intramuscular injection, the way it is usually administered to human patients. Histamine, as well as the anti-arthritic agents, had little or no effect on the symptoms of zinc deficiency other than the leg defect. Three other drugs related to histamine (pyrilamine maleate, an anti-histaminic, 0.2%; β-histine, a vasodilator, 0.3%; and aminoguanidine, a histaminase inhibitor, 0.1%) had no significant effect on the zinc-deficient chick. The possible use of the zinc-deficient chick in the study of arthritis and anti-arthritic agents is discussed.