[The resting-fasting oxygen consumption of the albino rat and its dependence on the body mass after the removal of the thyroid gland].

The resting and fasting oxygen consumption (RNSV) was determined in male albino rats, whose thyroid glands had either been surgically removed or reliably eliminated by injection of high radioactive iodine doses several weeks earlier. The animals were kept at an environmental temperature of 28 degrees C and fed with Altromin Standard Diet. The two athyreotic groups were only insignificantly different with regard to the RNSV. Their RNSV was also only insignificantly different from the RNSV-minimum observed in rats fed a non-protein diet in an earlier study. In keeping with findings in those animals the intraspecific body mass exponents in the athyreotic groups were only insignificantly different from the values of b = 0.75. The results presented confirm the hypothesis that the value b = 0.75 calculated for the intraspecific body mass exponent reflects a causal relationship between the RNSV and the body mass, that is not influenced by further variables. Apparently this value can be determined from the thyroid independent part of the RNSV. The results also support the suggestion that feeding a non-protein diet eliminates the influence of the thyroid on the RNSV at least temporarily.