Diminished blood ATP levels induced in the chick by dietary aluminum hydroxide gel

¹ Chronic Disease Research Institute and Department of Medicine, Buffalo General Hospital, University of Buffalo School of Medicine, Buffalo, New York

When newly hatched chicks are placed on a diet containing a reactive aluminum hydroxide gel, the fatal syndrome of progressive leg and wing weakness which they develop is accompanied by a reduction in the quantity of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the blood. The intramuscular injection of an emulsion of inorganic phosphate tends to prevent this change. It is suggested that these chicks fed alumina gel are deficient in inorganic phosphate and that their reduced ability to maintain blood ATP levels is indicative of reduced phosphorylating ability elsewhere in the body.