EXUDATIVE DIATHESIS AND MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY INDUCED IN THE CHICK BY ESTERS OF POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS

Summary and conclusionsExudative diathesis, muscular dystrophy, and depressed growth with accompanying high incidence of mortality were observed in chicks fed certain fractions of molecularly-distilled poly-unsaturated fatty acids obtained from menhaden oil. These fractions were fed daily as either ethyl esters or reconstituted triglycerides in supposedly adequate nutritional diets containing 0.3 ppm Se, 44 ppm dl-α-tocopherol acetate, 0.9% sulfur amino acids, and 167 ppm ethoxyquin. The chicks developed exudative diathesis as early as the 9 th day of experiment when fed the ethyl esters or reconstituted triglycerides obtained from the most unsaturated fractions of fish oil. The observed disorders are not due to the ethyl ester form of the fatty acids or to the oxidation of the oil in the feed.