Ribonuclease Activity and Nucleic Acid and Protein Metabolism in the Testes of Zinc-Deficient Rats

Abstract

The growth, feed consumption, feed efficiency, testicular weight, and com-position of the testes of young rats fed a zinc-deficient (1·4 p.p.m.) diet over a 10-week period were studied and compared with those of two groups of control rats fed this diet supplemented with zinc to provide 90 p.p.m. zinc. The feed intake of one of the control groups was restricted to that of the zinc-deficient group, so that the effects of inanition and of zinc deficiency per se could be separated.