Abstract
At the present moment, saccharin is believed to be almost non-toxic to animals and human. Having recognized the significance of the investigation as to how saccharin affects the animals in the embryonal stage, which were not employed in various studies in the past, the author planned the present experiment with fertilized hen's eggs in order to investigate the influence of saccharin on the development of chick embryo.
As the first step, experiments were performed to investigate the toxicity, the influence on the development of the embryo and its diuretic action. Thereafter, pathological histological examinations on various organs to compare with the results of the past reports. The fate of saccharin in the chick embryo and the behavior of saccharin toward the proteolytic enzyme of liver were then studied to help the solution of the problem of the mechanism of excretion of saccharin.
1) No remarkable changes in the weight of the chick embryo from fertilized hens egg which received the injection of saccharin were noted.
2) The diuretic action of saccharin was clearly recognized.
3) The allantoic fluid tastes sweet, and the sweetness was in proportion to the concentration of saccharin injected. No remarkable changes in the pH were noted.
4) No malformation in the chick embryo was noted. All of the eggs incubated were successfully hatched out without any death even with the injections of saturated saccharin solution.
5) By the pathological histological examinations on the chick embryo, it was con firmed that no noteworthy toxicity of saccharin to the embryo was recognized.
6) Even when saccharin was injected on the 7th day of incubation and the embryo was taken out on the 9th day, the diuretic action was recognized but the action was weak. In this case, malformation of embryo, death rate of eggs and the sweetness of allantoic fluid were comparably the same as those in the case when saccharin was injected before incubation.
In short, saccharin has almost no recognizable toxicity, and its absorption and excretion are rapid, and it has diuretic action. Further, contrary to dulcin, it does not harm any of the bones, liver, kidney etc.
