The <i>p</i>H of the Gastro-intestinal Tract of Certain Rodents used in Feeding Experiments, and its Possible Significance in Rickets

Abstract

ALTHOUGH determinations of the PH of the contents of different parts of the gastro-intestinal tract have been carried out by many previous investigators on such widely different animals as human beings, dogs, cats, pigs, cows and sheep, very little attention appears to have been paid to the rodents so largely used in feeding tests for vitamins. This may be due in part to the greater difficulties involved in handling the minute quantities of material available in such small animals as guinea-pigs, rats and mice. But, in view of the fact that vitamins have already been shown in a number of cases to be affected by the reaction of the medium in which they are present, it seemed to us worth while to investigate the intestinal conditions in these particular rodents.