EFFECT OF DEFICIENCY IN ANIMALS 



included myelin and axon degeneration, but there was no degradation 

 of the peripheral nerves.*^ Black Minorca chicks showed partial 

 depigmentation of the feathers.*® Some evidence exists *^ for believing 

 that pantothenic acid is essential for reproduction in the hen. 



The pantothenic acid content of eggs depended on the diet of the 

 hens,^^ but remained remarkably constant during the embryonic 

 development of the chick. ^^ Hens fed on diets containing 3-9, 8-6 

 and 15-7 fig. of pantothenic acid per day produced eggs containing 

 4-9, 7' 9 and 14-0 fig. per g. respectively ; these hatched into chicks 

 containing 5-2, 8-3 and 13-6 fig. per g. 



Fish 



It has been stated ^^ that pantothenic acid is an essential factor, 

 together with riboflavine and pyridoxine, for young rainbow trout, 

 but McLaren et al.^^ showed that the anaemia which was attributed to 

 a deficiency of these three factors was cured by a mixture of ribo- 

 flavine, pyridoxine and choline. Nevertheless, they showed ^* that 

 pantothenic acid was necessary for trout to the extent of i to 2 fig. 

 per 100 g. of diet. In its absence, the fish developed clubbed giUs. 



Efifect on Infection 



Pantothenic acid-deficient rats were found to be less susceptible 

 than normal rats to type I pneumococcus infection ^^ and pantothenic 

 acid- deficient mice were more resistant than normal mice to Theiler's 

 encephalomyelitis virus, though not to the Lansing strain of polio- 

 myelitis.^^ Some impairment of antibody response was observed in 

 pantothenic acid-, as well as in pyridoxine-deiicient rats. Panto- 

 thenic acid deficiency increased the severity of Trypanosoma lewisi 

 infection in rats,^® and the supplementing ol a diet with pantothenic 

 acid caused a T. evansi infection to develop more slowly.^® 



References to Section 8 



1. C. A. Elvehjem and C. J. Koehn, Nature, 1934, 134, 1007 ; /. Biol, 



Chem., 1935, 108, 709. 



2. S. Lepkovsky and T. H. Jukes, ibid., 1936, 114, 109. 



3. J, J. Oleson, C. A. Elvehjem and E. B. Hart, Proc. Soc. Exp. BioL 



Med., 1939, 42, 283. 



4. A. Mohammad, O. H. Emerson, G. A. Emerson and H. M. Evans, 



/. Biol. Chem., 1940, 133, 17. 



5. H. Chick, T. F. Macrae and A. N. Worden, Biochem. J., 1940, 34, 



580. 



6. G. Lunde and H. Kringstad, Naturwiss., 1939, 27, 7$^- 



7. P. Gyorgy and C. E. Poling, Science, 1940, 92, 202 ; Proc. Soc, 



Exp. Biol. Med., 1940, 48, 773. 

 24 369 



