Studies on Blood and Liver Citric Acid Levels in Chicks

Abstract

RECENT reports have indicated that tissue citric acid increases when animals are infected with Salmonellae. Berry et al. (1954), for instance, found that citric acid increased in various tissues of mice when they were infected with S. typhimurium. In addition, Gilfillan et al. (1956) reported that the liver accumulated citric acid when chicks were infected with S. pullorum. The purpose of the studies presented in this report was to determine whether or not citric acid accumulated in the blood of chicks infected with S. gallinarum and, if so, to determine the cause.METHODSWhite Plymouth Rock chicks obtained from a commercial hatchery were fed a commercial growing mash containing no antibiotics. At six weeks of age the chicks were inoculated with a saline suspension of S. gallinarum prepared as described previously (Hill and Garren, 1955).The studies with infected chicks involved three experiments. In experiment 1, ten control and ten…