The amino acid composition of chinchilla fur in relation to the fur-chewing syndrome

Abstract

Amino acids were determined in two types of chinchilla fur (chewed and normal), using three methods for analyses The methods included microbiological assays of Barton-Wright(5) and two column chromatography techniques of Moore and Stein (7, 8).

The data obtained from this investigation indicate that of the 16 amino acids analyzed, only one (lysine) was forum to be significantly lower in the chewed fur, as indicated by the "t" test. This difference between the normal and chewed fur was significant at the 2.5% 1evel. Also, arginine was lower and histidine was higher in the chewed fur than in the normal fur, but these difference: were not as conspicuous.

In general, the microbioligical analyses were more time consuming end less reproducible than the chromatographic analysis. With the exception of proline, glycine, and leucine, higher values were obtained fer the mine acids using the microbiological methods than with the column fractions. The greatest difficulty was encountered in analyzing the basic amino acids.