The Effect of Ethanolamine and its N-Methyl Derivatives on Kidney Hemorrhagic Degeneration in Rats Due to 2-Amino-2-Methyl-1-Propanol

Abstract

The low-choline diets, one containing 18% casein (diet A) and the other 42% (diet B), were fed to weanling male rats for 6 days. None of the animals developed hemorrhagic kidneys. When 5 mg of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol were added to these diets per gram of food, 87 and 98%, respectively, of the animals developed hemorrhagic kidneys in 6 days. Some of the animals had ocular hemorrhages and some died. The addition of monomethylethanolamine, dimethylethanolamine and choline markedly reduced the percentage of animals having kidney lesions. Ethanolamine was quite ineffective at all levels studied. When injected intraperitoneally the N-methyl derivatives of ethanolamine reduced the incidence of lesions in animals consuming both diets containing 5 mg of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol per gram of food. Ethanolamine had little effect. Both monomethylethanolamine and dimethylethanolamine at a level of 10.8 × 10^-8 mM per gram of diet B prevented kidney lesions in animals receiving from 15 to 25 mg of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol by one intraperitoneal injection daily for each of 6 days. Most of the saline-injected control animals at each level of dosage had lesions.