PANTOTHENIC ACID 



low levels were found only in the liver, muscle and brain. Repeated 

 oral administration increased the tissue level above normal and 

 delayed subsequent depletion. 



Chicken muscle contained between i and 4 /xg. of pantothenic 

 acid per g., and the pattern of distribution followed that of aneurine 

 and riboflavine (pages 72, 181).^^ The amount of pantothenic acid in 

 chicken liver bore little relation to the intake, but this influenced the 

 amount present in the leg muscle and breast tissue.* With very high 

 levels of intake these three tissues contained 45, 17 and 11 /xg. per g. 

 respectively. When pantothenic acid was given to deficient chicks, 

 deposition of the vitamin in the leg and breast tissues occurred rapidly. 



A large drop in the pantothenic acid content of the liver of rats 

 occurred when hepatoma were induced by the feeding of ^-dimethyl- 

 aminazobenzene.^2 Human and rat cancers contained approximately 

 the same amounts of pantothenic acid as did non-cancerous spleen, 

 lung and skeletal muscle, which are poorer in this factor than the 

 liver, heart, kidney and brain. 



Human milk contained 48 /ag. of pantothenic acid per 100 ml. on 

 the first day of parturition, and the amount increased rapidly to 245 

 /Ltg. per 100 ml. by the fourth day and then more slowly to 304 ng. 

 per 100 ml. by the tenth day. The average value of mature milk 

 was about 250 /xg. per 100 ml.^^ Cow's and ewe's milk contained 

 similar amounts and showed similar changes. 



Spector et alM recorded a value of 3-8 /xg. per 100 ml. for the amount 

 of pantothenic acid excreted in the sweat under normal conditions. 

 This amount was unaffected by the administration of 18 mg. of panto- 

 thenic acid per day. Under hot moist conditions 31 % of an i8-mg. 

 dose was recovered in the urine, and the total urinary and dermal 

 excretion increased by 11 -6 % to 3-8 to 57 mg. per day. 



Urinary Excretion of Pantothenic Acid 



Human urine contained between 70 and 600 /xg. per 100 ml. of 

 pantothenic acid,^' ^ and the amount excreted per day was found to 

 be from 2-5 to 5 mg. i*» ^^ D. M. Tennant and R. H. Silber ^^ reported 

 that the normal urinary excretion of 24 /xg. per hour increased to 50 

 /xg. per hour after dosage with the vitamin. Humans excreted approxi- 

 mately 10 % of an orally administered dose of calcium pantothenate 

 within four hours.^^ The renal output of pantothenic acid after oral 

 administration of 100 mg. of the vitamin was not significantly less in 

 patients with pernicious anaemia than in normal subjects.-^^ 



Rat urine contained 100 to 200 /xg. of pantothenic acid per 100 ml., 2. ^ 

 and there was a rapid increase in the rate of excretion following the 

 injection of pantothenic acid. Pantothenic acid-deficient mice 



374 



