THE FOLIC ACID COMPLEX 



Xanthopterine has been shown to be present in liver ' and in the 

 eye of the dog fish, Squalus acanthius and of Alligator mississipiensis.^ 



References to Section 8 



1. H. K. Mitchell, E. E. Snell and R. J. Williams, /. Amer. Chem. 



Soc, 1941, 63, 2284. 



2. A. D. Welch and L. D. Wright, Science, 1944, 100, 153. 

 la. A. Z. Hodson, /. Nutrition, 1949, 38, 25. 



3. J. M. Cooperman, W. R. Ruegamer and C. A. Elvehjem, Proc. 



Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 1946, 62, loi. 



4. W. R. Ruegamer, J. M. Cooperman, E. M. Sporn, E. E. Snell and 



C. A. Elvehjem, /. Biol. Chem., 1947, 167, 861. 



5. P. R. Burkholder, I. McVeigh and K. Wilson, Arch. Biochem., 



1945, 7, 287. 



6. L. D. Wright, H. R. Skeggs, A. D. Welch, K. L. Sprague and P. A. 



Mattis, /. Nutrition, 1945, 29, 289. 



7. R. W. Simmons and E. R. Norris, /. Biol. Chem., 1941, 140, 679 ; 



1945, 158, 449. 



8. A. Pirie and D. M. Simpson, Biochem. J., 1946, 40, 14. 



9. EFFECT OF FOLIC ACID DEFICIENCY IN ANIMALS 



The effects of different members of the folic acid complex on 

 different species of animals have already been described at some 

 length in the introductory section, with the primary object of showing 

 how the different factors are related to one another. In addition to 

 their growth-promoting effects on micro-organisms, the compounds 

 are characterised by their ability to cure anaemia, leucopenia and 

 granulocytopenia in chicks and monkeys fed purified diets, and in 

 rats treated with sulphaguanidine or sulphasuxidine. 



Chicks 



As already stated (page 459), crude specimens of vitamin Bc^ and 

 of the liver L. casei factor ^ prevented anaemia and promoted growth 

 in chicks. The purified factors had similar effects. Crystalline 

 vitamin Be maintained normal growth and feathering in chicks and 

 prevented the development of a macrocytic hyperchromic anaemia, 

 leucopenia and thrombocytopenia, ^ whilst crystalline vitamin Be 

 conjugate cured a nutritional macroc3H:ic anaemia in chicks.* A 

 purified preparation of the fermentation L. casei factor ^ and purified 

 folic acid * stimulated growth in chicks. 



An apparently significant difference between the response of chicks 

 to vitamin Be and to the L. casei factor was, however, reported by 



484 



