INOSITOL 



13. L. Young, Biochem. J., 1934, 28, 1435. 



14. D. W. Woolley, /. Biol. Chem., 1941, 140, 453. 



15. A. N. Woods, J. Taylor, M. J. Hofer, G. A. Johnson, R. L. Kane 



and J. R. McMahan, Univ. Texas Publ., 1942, No. 4237. 



16. R. R. Sealock and A. H. Livermore, /. Nutrition, 1943, 25, 265. 



7. EFFECT OF INOSITOL DEFICIENCY IN ANI2VIALS 

 2Viice and Rats 



As already stated (page 564), the first symptoms of inositol de- 

 ficiency to be recorded were alopecia and loss of weight.^ These 

 were observed in mice fed a ration of sucrose, purified casein, salts, 

 cod liver oil, corn oil, yeast extract, aneurine, riboflavine, nicotinic 

 acid, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, )8-alanine and choline. The hair 

 was restored by administration of a non-dialysable fraction from 

 liver, the responsible factor being subsequently isolated and identified 

 as inositol (page 565). This was effective at a level of 10 mg. per g. 

 of diet, whilst phytin (the calcium-magnesium salt of phytic acid) 

 was effective at a level of 100 mg. per 100 g. D. W. Woolley ^ showed 

 that the absence of pantothenic acid, as well as inositol, from the diet 

 of mice produced alopecia and that the inositol-deficient mice, but 

 not the pantothenic acid-deficient mice, recovered spontaneously. 

 A deficiency of pantothenic acid had also a more marked effect on 

 the weight of the animals than had a deficiency of inositol. The 

 anti-alopecia activity of inositol in mice was confirmed by Martin et 

 al.,^ who also observed that it caused reddening of the skin. P. L. 

 Pavcek and H. M. Baum * showed that the denudation around the 

 eyes of rats, a symptom used by W. Halliday and H. M. Evans ^ for 

 the assay of vitamin Bg, cleared up on administration of inositol, 

 whilst Cunha et al.,^ showed that loss of hair took place in rats main- 

 tained on a diet consisting of maize, soya bean, lucerne, minerals, 

 halibut liver oil, folic acid and pyridoxine and that growth of the hair 

 was restored by the addition of 0-3 % of inositol to the diet. 



In contrast to _/)-aminobenzoic acid, inositol had an unfavourable 

 effect on lactation in the rat ; the effect was counteracted by _/)-amino- 

 benzoic acid.' 



Lipotropic Effect 



The production of fatty livers in rats by feeding a beef liver fraction 

 was found to be prevented by the simultaneous administration of 

 various tissues or cereal extracts ^ or of inositol,^ whilst fatty livers 

 produced by feeding biotin were also prevented by inositol.® Choline 

 also had lipotropic properties (page 582) but, whereas it was effective 



572 



