Abstract
Male rats rendered hypothyroid by dosing with propylthiouracil (PTU) from infancy grow more slowly than normal animals and suffer an arrest at a level of approximately 160 to 170 g, but undergo a new cycle of growth when injected subcutaneously with small numbers of spargana of S. mansonoides. Such rats attain a weight of approximately 231 g as compared to 178 g for controls on PTU only. The weight gain reaches a maximum at 5 to 6 weeks and then slowly declines. The effect is almost immediate, giving clear-cut results in the first week, whereas controls hold their level or in- crease only very slowly. The effect is not just an average, but occurred in each rat tested so far. The mechanism involved is not as yet clear, but the weight gain appears to be distributed throughout all tissues and organs. Such heavy rats are larger, entirely normal in behavior, and in every way seem to be more rugged and superior animals than their controls.
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