15. 11. 1968 Specialia 1125 on frog's rectus muscle and effect of TTC on action of different agonists on other muscle preparations is established, an opportunity would be available to search for a relationship, if any, between the pharmacological effects of TTC and its biochemical actions 1,-1,. However, it should be mentioned that structurally TTC possesses 1 quaternary nitrogen in the tetrazole ring, generally an essentialrequirement for acetylcholine antagonists. Future investigation would disclose how far other salts of tetra- zolium behave differently to TTC 19. dieser Effekt in h6herer Dosierung als nichtkompetitiv erwies. B. ~ANURAY and 1DAWAN ~. CHAUHAN 20 St. John's Medical College, Bangalore (Mysore State) and Indian Institute o] Experimental Medicine, Calcutta-32 (India), 21 June 1968. Zusammen[assung. Es wurde die Wirkung eines Tetra- zolsatzes (2 : 3 : 5, Triphenyl-Tetrazolium-Chlorid) auf die dutch Acetylcholin hervorgerufene Kon~aktion des M. rectus abdominis beim Frosch gepriift. In verh~iltnism/issig niedriger Dosierung verhiilt sich die Substanz wie ein kompetitiver Hemmer des Acetylcholins, wAhrend sich 1~ Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful to Prof. R. B. AROFtA and Drs. C. K. ARORA and A. G. DATTA for their valuable help. The exceIlent technical assistance given by Miss ASOKASgNGU~rA is gratefully acknowledged. 20 Address for reprints: Indian Inst. of Experimental Medicine 4 Raja Subodh Mullick Road, Calcutta-32, India. Impairment of Growth and Pancreatic Hypertrophy in Rats Fed Trypsin Inhibitor from Raw Peanuts Raw soybean meal retards growth in young animals causing, at the same time, pancreatic hypertrophy 1-3. In chicks impairment of growth and pancreatic hyper- trophy may result from feeding of the soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) but may also occur after inhibitor-free meal ~,*. In rats more consistent changes are produced by SBTI, while heat-inactivated preparations are harmless n. The mode of stimulatory action is still unknown. Feeding of raw soybean meal also prolongs blood coagulation in chicks a, but it seems unlikely that the inhibitor, being a foreign protein, could be absorbed in amounts sufficient to influence coagulation. Another trypsin inhibitor, extracted from raw peanuts (A ravhis hypogaea), was found to decrease the spontaneous tibrinolytic activity of blood in man 5,n and to enhance experimentally induced arterial disease in rabbits v. Raw peanut meal was reported to impair growth in young pigs s. It was, therefore, of interest to see if trypsin in- hibitor fractions from raw peanuts, like SBTI, would retard growth and produce pancreatic hypertrophy in young rats. The trypsin-inhibitor fraction was prepared from hexane-defatted raw peanut meal ~. Assayed against crys- talline trypsin (Novo Laboratories, Copenhagen) 1 mg of the peanut fractions neutralized about 0.07 mg trypsin. Inhibitor-free preparations were obtained from solutions kept for 2 h in a boiling waterbath before precipitation with acetone. The peanut inhibitor is a stronger inhibitor of activator-induced fibrinolysis than SBTI 1o The prep- arations were fed to weanling male rats (25-30 g, Sprague- Dawley strain) in a dosage of 50 mg daily/animal mixed in Purina Chow. The drinking water contained 1.0 mg ascorbic acid/animal per day. Body weights were recorded weekly for each animal. After 6 weeks, the animals were killed with ether and the pancreas carefully isolated and its wet weight recorded. All other organs were inspected morphologicMly. Paraffin sections were prepared from the pancreas and appropriately stained (Haematoxylin- Eosin). The results of a comparative assay with 10 animals in each group are presented in the Table. There was a significant retardation of growth and an increase in pancreas weight in the group fed the trypsin inhibitor fraction. In both cases the p-value was less than Body weights and pancreas weights in weanling rats fed trypsin- inhibitor fractions or heat-inactivated preparations from raw peanuts Inhibitor Heat-treated material material Original body 27.9 ± 1.8 28.1 4- 1.4 weight (g) 25-30 25-30 Finalbody 94.7 4. 14.5 114.5 4. 11.5 weight (g) 70-126 94-130 Gain in body 66.8 4- 14.7 86.4 4. 9.2 weight (g) 56.3-95.0 65.4-103.3 Pancreas 641 4- 56 421 4. 31 weight (mg) 530-760 380480 Ratio of pancreas 0.0068 0.0037 to body weight 10 aninlals in each group. Results expressed as.mean -4- standard deviation and with range. 1 M. H. PUBOLS, H. C. SAXENA and J. McGiNms, Prec. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 117, 713 (1964). ~"H. C. SAXENA, L. S. JENSEN and J. McGINNIs, Prec. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 1t2, 101 (1963). a A. N. Boortt, D. J. ROBBINS, W. E. RIBELIN, F. DEEDS, A. K. SmTH and J. J. RAGKIS, Prec. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. I76, 1067 (1964). 4 S. L. BALLOUNand E. L. JottNso~, Archs Bioehem. 42, 355 [1953). 5 T. ASTRUP, P. BRAKMAN, P. OLLENDORFF and J. RASMUSSEN, Thromb. Diath. haemorrh. 5, 329 (1960). 6 p. BRAKMAN, K.-E. SJOL1N and T. ASTRUP, Thromb. Diath. haemorrh. 8, 442 (1962). 7 It. C. KWAANand T. AsTRuP, Archs Path. 78, 474 (1964). s G. E. COMBSand H. D. WALLACE, J . Anita. Sci. 21, 95 (1962). T. ASTRUP, P. BRAKMAN and K.-E. SJOLIN , Nature 19,I, 980 (1962). i0 K. ECEBLAD, Thromb. Diath. haemorrh, t7, 31 (1967).