Evening star., 1941-06-25
Amino Acid Is Found
Which Stimulates
Milk Production
Cystine Will Almost Double
Amount in Few Days,
Scientists Are Told
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star staff CorraSnopde dept

DURHAM, N. H, June 25.-Ani-
NAL milk production and that of
human mothers sometimes can be
nearly doubled by adding large
doses of cyStine to the diet, DR. r.
G. Daggs of the University of Ver-
mont school of medicine reported
to the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
CyStine is one of the amino acids,
the basic substance to which pro-
teinS, such as lean meat and eggs,
are reduced by digestion. 1t con-
tains much sulfur, which, in small
amounts, is essential to growth and
life and which is found especially
in the hair and fingernails. In
powdered form it can be sprinkled
on food or mixed with milk.
DR. Daggs' findings may have an
important application in human
medicine, but, he said, cystine prob
ably is too expensive to be used at
present to. stimulate milk produc-
ton in cattle
Obstetricians often have observed,
Dr. DaggS said, that in humans,
milk is greatly stimulated by CIV
ing mothers diets rich in protein,
rather than fats. The University
of Vermont experiments show that
milk stimulation is caused only by
those elements of proteins which
contain considerable quantities of
Sulfur. Thus, the growth -promot-
ing amino acid glutathione has
much the same effect as cystlne,
but it is more difficult to administer.
Effect Quickly Shown.
The effect of cystine, DR.. Daggs
said, usually is manifest in a few
days. Not only is the amount of
milk increased. but its quality,
chemical tests show, is greatly i'm
proved. In some cases, the fat
content of human milk was doubled.
is too greatly stimulated. III effects
accompany the cystine with diets
thoroughly adequate in the vitamin
B complex Otherwise, there is some
danger excess of amino acid will
cause fatty lnfiltration of the liver.
There also is some danger of milk
fever and tetany if milk production
is too greatly stimulated. III effects
can always be stopped by reducing
the diet.
Two tiny groups of cells in the kid
neyS may be responsible for a ma jor
portion of high blood pressure cases,
in recent years the chief cause of
death in America. DR.. F. w. Duni-
hue. also of the University of Ver-
mont. reported.
The cells themselves long have
been known to anatomists, but their
function has been unsupported. A
malignant apprehension can be
caused in dogs by shutting off part
of the blood supply to the kidneys.
This apparently causes a substance
which has direct effect on the
blood vessels to be liberated in the
blood.
Granular Cells Increase"
When the kidney and blood supply
is restricted, DR.. Dunihue reported
there is an almost immediate in
crease in the number of these So
called granular cells" which line a
small part of the points of entrance
and exit of the kidney arteries. This
increase comes long before high
blood pressure is noticed. 1t also
precedes accumulation of the fatal
kidney secretion in the blood Once
the malignant apprehension is estab-
llShed, DR.. Dunihue said. the cells
tend to return to the normal num-
ber. For this reason the increase
has not been noted in human be-
ing BY the time death occurs and
the kidneys are examined the gran
ular cells have declined.
The discovery, made possible by a
fine technique of cell counting,
throws an entirely new light on the
mechanism of hypertenslon Ap-
parently these cells secrete some
thing of unknown nature which
makes the blood vessels highly SEN
sitive to some other element in the
blood stream, probably the "renin"
secreted by the damaged kidneys.
Once the increased sensitivity has
been established there is no further
role for teh Sensitizer. The effects
appear to be irreversible. For the rest
of the individuals life his blood sys-
tenn is irrevocably damaged, with
the results of heart failure, cerebral
hemmorhage, or some other fatal
circulation ailment.