Diet exerts a profound influence upon the toxicity (tested in the omnivorous white rat) of certain substances, namely,
chloroform,
phosphorus,
potassium chromate, and
uranium nitrate, which cause
necrosis of the parenchymatous cells of the liver or of the kidney. Susceptibility to intoxication with all of these substances is less after a diet rich in
carbohydrate than after a diet consisting of meat.
Carbohydrates protect the parenchymatous cells of the liver or of the kidneys from
necrosis caused by any one of these substances.
Chloroform is much more toxic to animals which have received a diet consisting in great part of fat than to those which have received meat. When fat is fed to the white rat fatty infiltration occurs in the centers of the hepatic lobules and in the loops of Henle of the kidney. The
necrosis caused by
chloroform has the same location. The solubility of
chloroform in fat determines the increased susceptibility of animals which have received fat and stored it in the parenchymatous cells of the liver and kidney. Susceptibility to intoxication with
phosphorus which causes fatty degeneration and
necrosis of the liver is not increased by a diet of fat.
Necrosis caused by
phosphorus occurs in the periphery of the hepatic lobule and exhibits maximum intensity in animals which have received meat. Susceptibility to intoxication with
potassium chromate which causes
nephritis with
necrosis of the convoluted tubules of the kidney is not greater after a diet of fat than after a diet of meat. Susceptibility to intoxication with
uranium nitrate which causes
nephritis with advanced
necrosis of renal tubules is increased by a diet of fat. The loops of Henle, in which fat is abundant after a diet of fat, are the chief site of
necrosis.