Relation of the “Anti-Stiffness Factor” to Collagen Disease and Calcinosis

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Abstract
The "anti- stiffness factor" is fat-soluble vitamin which regulates muscular metabolism. The crude sources of this factor are green vegetables, raw cream, unheated molasses, and raw sugarcane juice. The nature of the active principle which is fat-soluble is still unknown. It is known that guinea pigs maintained lor months on a diet lacking in green vegetables develop general muscle stiffness and pain on movement of the carpal joints. Skeletal muscles atrophy, the animal becomes rigid in extension with flaring of the rib cage, and ultimately there are Ca deposits between the muscle fibers, around the joints, and under the skin as the condition progresses. Widespreac deposits of Ca in and around blood vessels and in parenchymal tissues are late manifestations. Deafness, corneal flattening, alopecia, polydypsia, diarrhea and eventual death are very late manifestations. The muscles of these animals showed atrophy, necrosis, fragmentation, hyaline changes and collagen necrosis with little cellular reaction and no fibrosis. Patchy necrosis of liver cells with occasional calcification is observed. Varying degrees of atrophy of the testicular tubules occurs. These pathological changes are associated with the following abnormal physiology: macrocytic anemia, eosinophilia, increase in sedimentation rate, and a reversal of the albumin/globulin ratio. There is also lowering of the creatine phosphate and adenosine-phosphate in muscle. This production of a collagen necrosis disease with calcinosis by means of a deficiency diet is of interest to the rheumatologists. The author has treated 10 cases of scleroderma, 4 with co-existing calcinosis with substances containing anti-stiffness factor. They found the treatment to be less effective than older treatment still in vogue. However, they stressed the similarity of the exptl. disease in animals produced by diets deficient in the anti-stiffness factor with the syndrome associated with calcinosis, dermatomyositis and scleroderma.

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