Relation of Arginine and Sulphur Amino Acids to the Development of Muscular Dystrophy in the Chick

Abstract

DAM et al. (1952) found that chicks fed diets low in vitamin E and sulphur amino acids developed a muscular degeneration manifesting itself as white striations of the breast muscle. Supplementation of the basal diet with 0.5% cystine or 0.01% d-alpha tocopheryl acetate provided good protection against the disorder. In contrast to the influence of high fat levels on the development of other vitamin E deficiency symptoms in chicks, the production of muscular dystrophy was shown to be unaffected by dietary fat intake.Machlin and Shalkop (1956) confirmed the protective activity of cystine and vitamin E and demonstrated the effectiveness of methionine and high levels of diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine.Recently Calvert, Nesheim and Scott (1960) made the interesting observation that the muscle lesions did not occur when the basal ration was deficient in arginine. Chicks fed a vitamin E-free ration containing 20% casein (in place of a combination of 15% casein and …