EFFECT OF SPA TREATMENT IN KUSAZU ON CHOLESTEROL METABOLISM (Report 2)

Abstract

In the previous paper the author reported that the serum cholesterol values of patients taking “Time Limit Bath” treatment in Kusazu Hot Springs decreased in about a week after the start of serial bathings, kept on low till the end of the second week, and tended to rise again in the third week. This was interpreted as a process of adaptation to the spa treattment. In the present report the same phenomenon was studied by means of animal experiment.
1) Eight mature male rabbits were divided into two groups. The first group was used for control, and the second was bathed in Kusazu Hot Spring at 47°C for three minutes, twice a day for four days. On the fifth day they were sacrificed and the cholesterol content of the left adrenal was measured by Sperry-Webb's method. While ascorbic acid content was measured in the right adrenal. It was revealed that in the second group both cholesterol and ascorbic acid contents were found lower than in the control group. Significant was the difference in the total cholesterol amount.
2) Twenty-seven mature male rabbits were divided into five groups. The first group with five rabbits was used as control. Seven rabbits of the second group were bathed once everyday in tap water at 36°C for twenty minutes, this group being called “Tap Water (Bathed) Group”. Five rabbits of the third group were bathed in the hot spring at 36°C for twenty minutes once everyday, this group being called “Hot Spring (Bathed) Croup”. Four rabbits of the fourth group were given 10c. c. of fresh water per Kg of body weight per orally with stomach tube and were called “Fresh Water Drinking Group”. Six rabbits of the fifth group were given thermal water, diluted in equal amount by fresh water, in the same way as with the fourth group, and were called “Thermal Water Drinking Group”. All the rabbits of the five groups were given 0.1g/kg of Cholesterol with basal diet. Their serum cholesterol values were measured by Sperry-Webb's method before starting the experiment and then every tenth day. This experiment was continued for sixty days. No significant difference was noted in the serum cholesterol values between Hot Spring Bathed Group and control group. But in Tap Water Bathed Group and in Thermal Water Drinking Group an apparent tendency to suppress hypercholesterolemia was seen compared with the control group. In Fresh Water Drinking Group a slight hypercholesterolemia suppressing effect was noted till about the thirtieth day, but after the fortieth day serum cholesterol reached the level of the control group, and after the sixtieth day it went beyond that of the control group. Histological investigation revealed that atherosclerotic changes were most markedly proved in the control group, followed by Fresh Water Drinking Group, Hot Spring Bathed group, less in Tap Water Bathed Group and Theremal Water Drinking Group. As a whole the serum cholesterol values and the atherosclerosis-grades ran parallel with each other.
3) a) Nineteen mature male rabbits were divided into four groups. Two rabbits of the first group were bathed in the natural hot spring. Eight rabbits of the second group were bathed in sodium sulphate solution. Four rabbits of the third group were bathed in sodium sulphate+chloride solution. And five rabbits of the fourth group were bathed in sodium sulphate+silicate solution. These solutions were of same ionic concentration as in the natural hot spring water. All the rabbits of the four groups were bathed at 36°C for twenty minutes every day. And all the rabbits were given cholesterol in the same way as in the last experiment. Their serum cholesterol values were measured every tenth day, and killed on the sixty first day to examine atherosclerotic changes in the aorta. Average serum cholesterol values in the sodium sulphate+silicate water bathed group proved lower than in the natural hot spring water bathed group. There was no mar