EXPERIMENTAL BONE MARROW REACTIONS

Abstract

Pigeons subjected to starvation show an increasingly severe anemia, directly proportional to weight loss, with aplasia of the radial bone marrow. Feeding causes rapid regeneration. The grain- (controls) and meat-fed pigeons regained their initial weight, red blood cells and hemoglobin in a short time. Broiled-liver-fed animals regained their weight rapidly, red cells and hemoglobin reached a maximum well below the normal on about the 12th day and then became anemic again, without weight loss. The bone marrow of liver-fed pigeons showed a marked depression of the megaloblasts. In controls and meat-fed pigeons megaloblasts were abundant. Cholesterol increased to 5 times the normal in the liver-fed animals. It is suggested that the depression of blood formation in pigeons may be due to an inhibitory substance in the liver, and that perhaps this inhibitory effect is the beneficial factor in the liver-diet treatment of pernicious anemia in which hyperactivity is present in the earliest forms.