ACIDIFICATION OF DRINKING-WATER - ITS EFFECTS ON SELECTED BIOLOGIC PHENOMENA IN MALE-MICE

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 30  (4) , 643-651
Abstract
In this study, water acidified with either HCl or H2SO4 to pH levels of 2.0 or 2.5 was given for 6 wk to normal and immuno-suppressed male, random-bred mice. The pH of the drinking water remained stable for periods up to 7 days. The only significant changes produced in both immunosuppressed and normal mice with both anions were declines in weight gain and water consumption when the drinking water was acidified to a pH of 2.0. Some of the observed changes were greater in the immunosuppressed animals. These animals also showed more variation in their response to the 2 anions. When sulfuric-acidified water at pH 2.0 was consumed, the number of bacterial species isolated from the terminal ileum was reduced. The acidification of drinking water was evidently not innocuous and should be evaluated as an environmental variable whenever it is used.

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