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DOES ADIETDEFICIENT INVITAMINAFFECT THEBONELABYRINTH? A REPORT ON THERESULTS OFANIMALEXPERIMENTATION. Presented by DR. ROY A. BARLOW, Madison, Wis.
As rickets is often associated with deafness and is known to be due to dietary deficiencies, the question arises as to whether bony changes in the labyrinth, similar to those in other bones, may not be the etiologic factor. If it can be demonstrated that there is a lack of calcium in the bony capsule of the labyrinth in patients fed on a diet deficient in vitamin D, which controls the deposition of calcium, then such an assumed etiologic relationship between diet and deafness is tenable, and may be a new point of attack on the unsolved problem of otosclerosis. The present study was carried out by feeding rats with a diet deficient in vitamin D. A marked loss of calcium was thus pro