Effect of Nutrition on Survival Time of Thyroidectomized Rats Bearing a Transplantable Leukemia

Summary

Thyroidectomized Fischer rats bearing a transplantable leukemia had a significantly longer survival time than sham-operated rats similarly treated. Since the former animals fed ad libitum ate significantly less food than the controls, the effect of thyroidectomy on survival time in rats maintained at various nutritional levels was tested. The data show the increased survival time of the tumor-bearing thyroidectomized rat is attributable to some factor other than the reduced dietary intake induced by this operation. However, an influence of reduced food consumption is shown by the fact that the effect of thyroidectomy is less marked in animals maintained at low food-intake levels than in those fed ad libitum.