ABSTRACT
Amyloidosis is a disease involving the extracellular deposition of a microscopically homogeneous fibrillary protein in various tissues, leading eventually to death when this material replaces the cells in vital organs such as the heart and the liver. Primary amyloidosis develops as a progressive degenerative change in all of us with advancing age and tends to occur earlier or more markedly in men than in women. Studies of chronic scurvy in guinea pigs by D. L. Pirani and C. G. Bly and by Pirani et al. revealed definite deposits of amyloid-like material in certain organs. They reported that amyloid-like material was found only in the guinea pigs with chronic scurvy and only in those animals which were sacrificed 8 weeks or more after the beginning of the experiment. Chemical analyses reported by Pirani and H.R Catchpole revealed significant increases in the serum glycoprotein levels of guinea pigs, both in acute and in chronic scurvy.
