EFFECT OF DEFICIENCY IN ANIMALS 



acid was necessary for the maintenance of the normal intact structure 

 of the spinal cord in chicks (page 368). 



H. W. Deane and J. M. McKibbin -^ suggested that a deficiency of 

 pantothenic acid acted as an " alarming stimulus on the pituitary ", 

 causing hypertrophy and over-production of corticosterone-like 

 steroids from the zona fasciculata. 



Pantothenic acid deficiency has been said to stimulate the pro- 

 duction of body fat. 2^ It may also result in inflammatory changes in 

 the respiratory tract of rats, leading to bronchitis and broncho- 

 pneumonia, and lobular hepatitis and fatty infiltration of the liver ; ^s 

 at the same time, the erythrocytes and haemoglobin increased and 

 leucocytosis occurred. Carter et al.,^^ however, found that panto- 

 thenic acid-deficient rats developed a severe hypochromic anaemia, 

 with a fall in haemoglobin, erythrocytes and polymorphonuclear 

 leucocytes, accompanied by splenomegaly, myeloid transformation, 

 hyperplasia of the bone marrow and failure of the erythropoietic and 

 leucopoietic cells to mature. Administration of pantothenic acid 

 restored the blood picture to normal. Like Lippincott and Morris, 

 they observed no pathological changes in the adrenal cortex. It has 

 been stated that pantothenic acid reduces the toxic effects of thyreo- 

 globulin in rats.^^ A deficiency of pantothenic acid may aggravate 

 the symptoms of biotin deficiency induced in rats by feeding succinyl- 

 sulphathiazole.^2 Administration of biotin protected against the 

 biotin deficiency and at the same time reduced the severity of the 

 symptoms of pantothenic acid deficiency. 



According to Taylor et al.^^ the number of young rats in a litter 

 was increased by 25 % when 100 /xg. of calcium pantothenate daily 

 was added to the diet, although the day-old offspring had relatively 

 smaller brains and hearts than had controls. In confirmation of this 

 observation, M. M. Nelson and H. M. Evans ^^ reported that panto- 

 thenic acid deficiency adversely affected reproduction in the rat, for, 

 when animals were made deficient sixteen to twenty-three days before 

 mating, or even as late as the day of mating, either no implantation 

 occurred or the foetuses were resorbed or defective. Pantothenic 

 acid deficiency did not affect reproduction when instituted on the 

 thirteenth day of gestation. The effect on reproduction was not due 

 to inanition or other dietary deficiencies. 



Pantothenic acid-deficient rats also suffered changes in the cornea ^^° 

 and developed ulcers of the tongue ^^^ and duodenal ulcers. ^^'^ 



Dogs 



Some of the results of pantothenic acid deficiency in dogs resemble 

 those in rats, but there are important differences. Thus Fonts et al.^^ 

 observed that pantothenic acid-deficient dogs lost weight and appetite 



Z^7 



