The dietary methionine requirement of juvenile Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.) was assessed by feeding diets supplemented with graded levels of 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 g kg A1 dietary protein) for 16 weeks at 12°C. All diets contained 400 g kg A1 protein, 170 g kg A1 lipid, 66 g kg A1 ash and an estimated 17.5 MJ digestible energy (DE) kg A1 . When live-weight gain was examined using quadratic regression, the estimate of methionine requirement for optimal growth was 17.6 g kg A1 of dietary protein (DP) or 7 g kg A1 of the diet. Requirements estimated on the basis of carcass protein and energy gains were 18.8 and 17.9 g kg A1 DP, respectively. Plasma methionine concentrations and ocular focal length variability measurements did not provide a sensitive measure of requirement, because each responded in a linear fashion to increasing dietary methionine levels. Based on the prevalence of cataracts, the methionine level required to prevent lens pathology (26.7 g kg A1 DP) appears to be higher than that required for maximum growth.KEY WORDS:

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Treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with angiodysplasias and Osler's disease (hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia) is clinically challenging. Frequently, vascular malformations occur as multiple disseminated lesions, making local treatment an unfavorable choice or impossible. After local therapy, lesions often recur at other sites of the intestine. However, as there are few therapeutic alternatives, repeated endoscopic coagulations or surgical resections are still performed to prevent recurrent bleeding. Hormonal therapy has been employed for more than 50 years but has recently been shown to be ineffective. Therefore, new therapeutic strategies are required. Understanding of the pathophysiology of angiogenesis and vascular malformations has recently substantially increased. Currently, multiple inhibitors of angiogenesis are under development for treatment of malignant diseases. Experimental and clinical data suggest that antiangiogenic substances, which were originally developed for treatment of malignant diseases, may also represent long-awaited specific drugs for the treatment of vascular malformations. However, antiangiogenics display significantly different actions and side-effects. Although antiangiogenics like thalidomide seem to inhibit gastrointestinal bleeding, other substances like bevacizumab can cause mucosal bleeding. Therefore differential and cautious evaluation of this therapeutic strategy is necessary.

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