Milk Allergy in Infant Germ-free Rabbits

Abstract

THE observations reported here were made in the course of attempts to establish a colony of germ-free rabbits for nutritional investigations. The infant rabbits were delivered by hysterectomy either into Gustafsson germ-free isolators or, as controls, into a conventional environment in which the physical conditions simulated as nearly as possible those inside the isolators. The diet was an aqueous dispersion of 12.5 g whole dried milk, 5 g calcium caseinate and 1 g vitamin supplement in glucose in 100 ml. It was sterilized by an ultra-high-temperature process, which resulted in little loss of its nutrient value. It was offered to the rabbits twice daily, in flasks fitted with rubber teats through which they readily learned to drink.