| Abstract: | Chronic administration of potassium orotate to young rats in a dose of 75 mg/kg body weight from the 5th to the 14th day and 150 mg/kg from the 15th to the 30th day of life sharply accelerates growth and functional maturation of the animals. The rate of growth of the experimental animals between the 5th and 14th days and the 21st and 30th days was much greater than in the control rats, but between the 14th and 21st days there was no significant difference. The acceleration of growth from the 5th to the 14th day is accounted for by the greater activity of the autonomic systems (increased oxygen consumption, respiration rate, and heart rate at rest) than in the control. Between the 21st and 30th days the acceleration of growth in the experimental rats was connected with an earlier decrease in activity of the autonomic systems and sympathicoadrenal control mechanisms, as shown by a decrease in the catecholamine concentration in the adrenals and brain.Laboratory of Age Physiology and Pathology, Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR N. A. Fedorov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 18–21, March, 1975. |
