STUDIES ON HYPOCHROMIC ANEMIA IN DOGS. II. THE EVALUATION OF PREDIGESTED BEEF, IRON AND LIVER EXTRACT ON FORMATION OF HEMOGLOBIN AFTER GASTRECTOMY 1

In the dog there seems to be a close relation-ship between gastric digestion and experimentally induced hypochromic anemia. The authors (1, 2) have reported that, following the depletion of hemoglobin-forming reserves by frequent bleed-ings, the hypochromia of red blood cells thus pro-duced persists if the animals ' stomachs are re-moved by surgical procedures. It was shown that, prior to the production of an artificial achylia gastrica, the average daily output of hemo-globin in the animals on a standard bread ration (Whipple) was 0.93 gram; and the output of hemoglobin when the diet was supplemented with beef was 1.95 grams. Following gastrectomy, the output of hemoglobin in the animals on these diets was reduced to 0.14 gram and 0.08 gram, respec-tively. It is apparent, therefore, that the gas-trectomized dogs are unable to obtain from beef the substances essential to the production of a normal amount of circulating hemoglobin. In a previous series of observations (3) on a group of female patients with achlorhydria and hypochromic anemia, it was shown that the daily administration of a diet rich in food-iron resulted in formation of sufficient hemoglobin only when the meal fed had been previously digested in vitro with hydrochloric acid and pepsin, or when large doses of iron were administered to the patients. The present study was undertaken to ascertain the effects of feeding predigested beef, iron, and injections of liver extract on the production of hemoglobin in the same series of gastrectomized dogs. METHODS Three healthy, adult gastrectomized dogs were placed on the standard bread diet of Whipple and Robscheit-Robbins (4). This ration is poor i