Nickel Deprivation in Chicks

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Abstract
To investigate the effects of nickel deprivation, 12 chicks (group A) were grown in isolation from environmental nickel, and were fed a diet which contained 44 ppb of nickel. Twelve control chicks (group B) were treated similarly and were fed the same diet with added nickel (3.4 ppm Ni as NiCl2). Nickel deprivation was produced in the chicks of group A, based upon the presence of diminished mean concentrations of nickel in serum and liver on day 30 (serum Ni = 1.6 ± 0.3 µg/liter in group A, versus 4.2 ± 0.4 µg/liter in group B, P < 0.001; hepatic Ni = 64 ± 6 µg/kg dry weight in group A, versus 82 ± 9 µg/kg dry weight in group B; P < 0.01). After 30 days, there were no significant differences between groups A and B in Electron microscopic examination demonstrated dilatation of perimitochondrial rough endoplasmic reticulum in hepatocytes of nickel-deprived chicks.