The Occurrence of a Calcinosis Syndrome in Cotton Rats IV. The Effect of Diet and the Age of the Animals on the Development of the Disease and on the Urinary Excretion of Various Metabolites

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Abstract
Several experiments have been conducted to study the effect of diet and age on the susceptibility of cotton rats to development of the calcinosis disease. Partially purified diets which were low in Mg (0.02%) precipitated and increased the severity of the disease compared to diets containing 0.1% Mg. An immediate phosphaturia occurred when cotton rats were fed the low Mg diets which was not shown by white rats fed diets containing 0.01% Mg or by cotton rats fed diets containing 0.1% Mg. The creatine excretion of cotton rats fed the low Mg diets also was increased, starting at approximately the second week. Supplementation of the low Mg diets with biotin, aureomycin, vitamin A, calcium pantothenate, vitamin E, manganese, Zn or methionine or omission of the vitamin D supplement did not improve the growth of the cotton rats or reduce the deposition of minerals in cardiac and abdominal muscles. Some of these supplements reduced the phosphaturia and creatinuria, but the reduction was not as great as that due to a dietary supplement of Mg. The substitution of dextrin for sucrose retarded the development of the disease. Young animals were more susceptible to the disease than adults. Several similarities have been noted between the disease in guinea pigs and in cotton rats.