Fat emulsion developed here for intravenous use: Three Way Project at LSU Hailed as Boon

              For the first time in history, doctors here said Wednesday, a fat emulsion has been developed which can be used for intravenous feedings without producing any dangerous side effects. It was hailed as a boon to surgery patients and the armed forces.
The new emulsion has been fed experimentally to animals and is now ready to be tried out on human beings.
For over a year now fat metabolism studies have been carried on at Louisiana State university

medical school. Co-operating have been the Southern Utilization Research and Development division of the U.S. department of agriculture and the sugeon general of the U.S. Army.
Say a patient is seriously ill and in need of plenty of nourishment in a hurry. And say, it is either impractical or impossible to feed him by mouth. Well, in this battle to sustain life, the new fat emulsion, it is believed, will more than hold its own.
"Gram by gram, fat releases twice as many; calories as proteins and carbohydrates," explained Dr. Isidore Conn Jr., chief LSU researcher for the project.
LSU physicians said that presently, there is a fat emulsion on the market. But this emulsion, they pointed out, is not stable when stored over a long period of time. This means it has to be used very soon after it has been emulsified. That would more or less destroy its usefulness for soldiers in combat.
"This new fat emulsion' is the first such emulsion to be produced which may be given in sufficient quantities to provide proper nutrition to the very 111 without producing any dangerous side effects," explained Dr. Conn, who is professor of surgery at LSU.
Made from cottonsed oil, the new emulsion was compounded at the Southern utilization research division oi the United States department of agriculture. The project was financed under a U.S. Army contract.
Although it has been proven that the new emulsion can be I given in quantities almost twice as large as any other fat emulsion, without danger to the recipient, the new emulsion does produce a minor destruction of red cells.
"But this is not regarded as a   dangerous   side   effect,"   explained  Dr.  William  W.   Frye, dean of the LSU medical school, j However,  since scientists wantj everything perfect to the nth degree, experimental work will continue on rats and other animals under the direction of Dr. Quentin Hartwig.   Dr.   Hartwig,   assistant professor of surgery and physiology at the LSU medical school, has devised a new approach to
the study of this problem with the aid of the medical school's radio-isotope laboratories.
Since the liver is the major site of fat metabolism, Dr. Hartwig has been collecting the total bile output from the liver of rats. This is done by the surgical insertion of a polyethelyne tube into the bile ducts. Because rats have no gall bladder they have a continuous flow of bile.
Dr. Hartwig said the fat emulsion is mixed with radio-active iodine administered intravenously. The tagged iodine, he added, is excreted from both the bile and the urine. These are automatically collected every hour in test tubes for a period of 24 hours at a time. Through the radio-active properties the fluids can be measured to determine how rapidly the fat has_
oxidized in the body.
new emulsion was hailed as at outstanding development by Dr. ^rye. He said the emulsion is some1|iing the armed forces have needed for a long time. Dr. Fryjp said t|ie new emulsion will als$* prove % boon to surgery patien PHOTO: DR. ISIDORE COHN JR. Is project researcher.