Fatal Myocarditis in Choline Deficient Rats Fed Ethyl Laurate

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Abstract
The feeding of ethyl laurate, at a 35–40% level in the diet, to young rats receiving no choline resulted in death from heart failure in from 3 to 6 days. The pathological process was an acute diffuse interstitial myocarditis. It was preventable by the adequate administration of choline, betaine or methionine. The disease did not occur in rats fed the ethyl esters of other fatty acids and was not fatal when the quantity of ethyl laurate was reduced to 25% of the diet. Though histologically similar, the disease is apparently not identical with the myocarditis of potassium deficiency.