Added Dietary Inorganic Sulfate and Its Effect upon Rats Fed Molybdenum

Abstract

Under the conditions of these experiments dietary inorganic sulfate had an alleviating effect on the molybdenum-induced rat growth inhibition. The inclusion of molybdenum in the diet caused an increase in the liver and blood levels of molybdenum and copper. This increase was reduced when inorganic sulfate was added to the molybdenum-containing ration. In these experiments the growth inhibition caused by 75 p.p.m. of molybdenum could be overcome by the addition of 2,200 p.p.m. of inorganic sulfate. Sulfate was partially effective in diets containing as much as 300 p.p.m. of molybdenum. When 100 p.p.m. of molybdenum was added to the diet it appeared that a level of sulfate between 800 and 2,200 p.p.m. exerted its maximum growth-protective effect.